Development and Evaluation of a Life Threatening Infections Point-of-Care Triage Test for the Fionet System

Febrile syndromes are among the most common causes of global illness accounting for approximately two billion episodes annually. However, most infections are self-limited and only rarely do they progress to critical illness. Our current inability to rapidly identify the small proportion of individuals who will progress to life-threatening infections (LTIs) is a major barrier to effective triage and precision management of serious infections. Our research has identified biomarkers with high diagnostic accuracy for LTIs. We aim to integrate these diagnostic and prognostic markers with Fio Corporations platform (Fionet) to develop two products: a 1 hour near-patient platform suitable for use in intensive care units and emergency departments; and a point-of-care rapid diagnostic test suitable for community use in low resource settings. The rapid identification of individuals with LTI will decrease mortality and prevent the misallocation of health resources due to over-admission and unnecessary treatment of patients with self-limited fevers.

Faculty Supervisor:

Kevin Kain

Student:

Melissa Richard-Greenblatt

Partner:

Fio

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

University of Toronto