Development of a Quantitative and Inexpensive Opioid Detector for Clinical Use

The opioid epidemic is a serious health crisis and opioid treatment strategies are at the forefront of efforts to tackle this crisis. Replacement therapy is the current approach taken using medications such as methadone. To be more effective, the dosage needs to be tailored to individual tolerance which requires a point-of-care type analytical measurement of the patient’s existing opioid level. This proposal takes an existing proof-of-concept opioid detection device and adapts it for use in the clinical setting to address this challenge, quickly determining the patient’s tolerance level in a day compared to the current standard of care that would take a few weeks.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dan Bizzotto;Glenn Sammis

Student:

Daniel Jun

Partner:

Vancouver General Hospital

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of British Columbia