Project
Overcoming the Debye screening limitation with hybrid graphene-carbon nanotube devices for multi-biomarker diagnostics of sepsis
Description
Some diseases unfortunately do not have just one specific biomarker that gives diagnostic information to a physician, but rather several quasi-specific ones that can occur also under different conditions. One example of such a condition is sepsis – life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated immune system as a result of a systemic infection. Annually, more than forty-nine million people experience this condition, of which as many as one-fifth die – 11 million people per year.
Fast and precise diagnosis of sepsis is difficult due to the heterogeneity and non-specificity of this condition in different patients. In general, sepsis can be divided into three major stages: pro-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory and organ failure. For each of those stages, certain biomarkers concentrations in patient’s blood increase. The anti-inflammatory biomarkers in the first stage include C-reactive protein (CRP), which also happens to be a common biomarker of inflammation of clinical importance in distinguishing between bacterial and viral infection. Other, newly discovered biomarker is pancreatic stone protein (PSP). In the final, organ dysfunction stage, lactate levels in blood are increased.
The project is aimed at using the hybrid SWCNT/graphene devices to determine the concentrations of all aforementioned biomarkers in parallel and correlate the acquired signal that would help the medical staff to rapidly (within 20 minutes!) and correctly diagnose the patient with sepsis and apply the appropriate therapeutic approach. We expect that with our novel hybrid nanomaterial we will achieve this goal and help decrease the death toll of sepsis.
Funding
Project funded by the National Science Centre
Coordinator
Warsaw University of Technology
Project No
2023/51/D/ST4/00667
Project value
1 822 070 PLN