David N. Ku - Novel Ways to Use POC and Nanotechnology in Clinical Medicine

Nano and microtechnologies have a big potential to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases. In this seminar, I will highlight three examples that may be unusual to the audience. (1) ThromboCheck has been developed from the Atlanta Center for Microengineering for Point of Care Technologies (ACME-POCT). We converted a complex system to recreate heart attacks from the flow of whole blood using microfluidics into a simple POC device that can be run by the phlebotomist to yield clinically relevant info within 5 minutes. (2) Nanoparticles have been suggested for drug delivery systems. However, we have recently found that the nanoparticles themselves may have therapeutic value in preventing heart attacks as a novel therapy. These nanoparticles act by physics so have a device instead of pharmaceutical regulatory pathway with potential $1 bn savings in development cost. (3) Lastly, new microPCR techniques have been used for diagnosing COVID-19. The next pathogen ripe for POC development should be other respiratory diseases such as TB that is the number one killer of children around the world.  A novel sampling technique may allow better surveillance and adoption than sputum or nasal swabs while providing more information on who need not be quarantined.