POInt-of-care miRNA detection device for Ophthalmic diseases Tracing
Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can affect anyone. This disease cannot be cured, and the advanced medical technology today can only slow down its progression. If glaucoma is detected late, the start of treatment will also be delayed. Meanwhile, as glaucoma progresses, vision may become blurred, narrowed, or in the worst case scenario, vision may be lost. This can reduce the quality of vision (QOV) and significantly impact daily life.
In the field of synthetic biology, there are noteworthy accomplishments in both basic research and applied research, in a wide range of fields such as production industry, medicine, and environmental conservation. However, much of the research is not known to the general public, being far from implementation for being used at home. Although strict regulations to prevent the spread of genetically modified organisms are necessary as the responsibility of scientists, they indirectly delay social implementation.
PPOIROT is developed aiming to detect glaucoma specific miRNA at home. To rapidly realize practical application in society, a cell-free system based on enzymes and nucleic acids are adopted, which has fewer regulations for use outside the laboratory. Also, the series of reactions proceeds isothermally, which highlights useability. Moreover, as applications, this system is potentially useful to efficiently amplify and quantify disease-specific (trace amounts) microRNA in body fluids, as a test for diseases other than glaucoma.