When   Thursday, May 28, 2009   Time   4:00 PM - 5:00 PM  
Where   Technological Instit M345 2145 Sheridan Rd.   map it
Audience   - Faculty/Staff - Student - Public
Contact   Virginia Lorenzo   847-491-5635  
Group   McCormick - Biomedical Engineering Department
More Info   http://www.cight.northwestern.edu/

Kunal Sur
PhD Candidate
Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies
Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University

Research Synopsis:
Our group seeks to design innovative medical devices for resource limited settings within developing countries by taking a holistic approach that focuses on the patients, the healthcare providers and the public health environment within these targeted communities. 
Viral load testing is the preferred method for early detection of HIV-1 therapeutic failure; however, it is not widely available in resource limited settings due to the high cost and complexity of the assay.  A bottleneck in the development of a viral load device for use in these markets has been the resource and labor intensive extraction and purification of viral RNA from plasma. My research focuses on the development of a novel nucleic acid purification system which eliminates pumps, valves, pipette tips and aspirators in automated processors and the need of a trained technician to aliquot liquids in a manual system. A disposable cartridge has been developed which integrates this purification method with on-board reagent storage. The versatility of the purification method has been demonstrated with blood, plasma, and urine in a laboratory configuration with quantitative detection of HIV-1 viral RNA, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and proviral HIV-1 DNA. The system can be readily integrated with real-time nucleic acid amplification and detection allowing for viral load testing universally.