Evidence of respiratory pathogens (Respoc)

Development of a handheld lab-on-a-chip device for the rapid on-site diagnosis of respiratory infections such as whooping cough.

Infectious diseases cause 9 million deaths in children under five years all over the world and are also the main reason for hospital admissions in developed countries. Pneumococcal pneumonia alone is the main cause of pulmonary inflammation and kills more children than HIV, malaria and measles combined.

The RESPOC Team formed from seven organizations from Spain, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Italy, has received funding from the European Commission of over 1.1 million euros to develop a small device for the local and rapid diagnosis of respiratory infections. This lab-on-a-chip device would enable hospital staff to quickly diagnose whooping cough and pneumococcal pneumonia without needing to send the specimens off for analysis to special laboratories.