| Posted: June 18, 2008 |
Best code for disease detection, bar none |
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(Nanowerk News) Malaria and dengue fever will be the early targets of new trans-Pacific research using minuscule "barcodes" to detect disease.
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The University of Queensland (UQ) and the University of Washington (UW) are poised to launch the research after Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced $650,000 from the National and International Research Alliances Program on June 18.
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"Detection of the pathogens of two debilitating mosquito-borne diseases, malaria and dengue fever, is just the first target of this research," UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield said as he welcomed the funding.
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"Down the track the results are likely to have widespread applications in medicine, biosecurity, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
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"The researchers are pioneers of 'nano-barcodes', from which they take electronic read-outs of information about targeted molecules.
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"The read-outs are analogous to incredibly detailed inventories of molecules.
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"The practical outcome is a diagnostic tool that is cheaper, more sensitive, more accurate and easier to use than established techniques."
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The research team comprises Dr Krassen Dimitrov, a scientist-entrepreneur at UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology who was formerly at UW, Seattle, along with Dr Daniel T Schwartz and Dr Karl Boehringer, both of UW.
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UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle thanked UW, which is contributing $900,000 (from Washington State's Life Science Discovery Fund) to the two-year $1.8 million project.
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"This project will demonstrate the potential of teamwork between UQ and UW. We signed an agreement for cultural, educational and scientific cooperation in 2006 and we launched the $450,000 Trans-Pacific Fellowships this month (June 2008)," Professor Siddle said.
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"The governments of Queensland and Washington have significant ties and are supportive of collaborative research."
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The prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology published a paper on Dr Dimitrov's barcode work in May 2008
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