Multifunctional Microfluidic Patch for Infectious Diseases Diagnosis (FORTIFIEDx)

In vitro diagnostic (IVD) technologies have revolutionized healthcare, yet remain confined to the laboratories. As witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, this traditional centralized approach was not sufficient to prevent and manage viral outbreak because it massively failed to deliver quick and cost-effective diagnosis. The ongoing pandemic further emphasizes the growing need to urgently bring lab-quality diagnosis to the hands of end users (i.e. point-of-care, POC). Despite high expectations from Lab-on-Chip technologies, they failed so far to disrupt the IVD market due to their complexity of integration/operation, high cost, off-chip sample preparation, poor scalability, to mention only a few. The FORTIFIEDx consortium aims to revolutionize the POC IVD field by making use of novel multifunctional biocompatible polymers and their (micro)structuring with mass fabrication technology to develop for the first time a true sample-to-result POC test. We will develop a FORTIFIEDx microfluidic-based patch capable of both biofluids (self-)sampling via hollow microneedles and immediate analysis of this sample on the very same patch in a completely self-powered manner. Two unmet clinical needs, posing epidemic/pandemic treats to both the developed and developing world, are selected: (1) sexually transmitted diseases, in particular simultaneous diagnosis of HIV and Syphilis, to enable timely diagnosis of patients not always able to reach centralized settings due to stigma or financial difficulties and (2) viral haemorrhagic fever, in particular Ebola and Lassa viruses, to battle their highly contagious and deadly outbreaks. To tackle this challenging aim, the interdisciplinary and experienced FORTIFIEDx consortium (2 universities, 5 research institutes and 2 SMEs from 6 countries) will combine insights from material science, engineering and microfabrication, microfluidic technology development, bioassay development, clinical validation and life cycle assessment.