Our Project

The aim of our project was to develop a cell-free detection system for congenital Chagas disease in the acute phase by detecting the cruzipain in the blood. Congenital Chagas disease is a growing global concern and at present, the acute phase of Chagas disease is difficult to diagnose as it is asymptomatic and current diagnostics are both expensive and inaccessible to the majority of those affected. Our final diagnostic kit would allow Chagas disease to be detected by preventing the clotting of a blood sample.

We imagine that this system would be adaptable for other parasites and pathogens which have similar difficulties in detection, both in the input for the system and the options for output.