Universität Leipzig: Ceruti-Verteilerseite

WELCOME

Africa Suitcaselab is a project funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and an African-European partnership for development and deployment of rapid SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antigen detection assays by the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH). Both contain a multi-country blinded phase 2 study to evaluate rapid detection systems of SARS-COV-2.

THE COLLABORATION

Our main aim is to evaluate 3 different point of need systems (isothermal amplification, peakPCR and rapid antigen test) ) for SARS-COV-2 through a multi-country blinded study and its implementation in low resource settings. Learn more about our projects

The consortium consists of 3 European Partners (coordination and assay development) as well as 7 North and Sub-Saharan partners (diagnostic evaluation). Learn more about who we are

ABOUT

Suitcase lab

Glove box for sample inactivation

our main objectives

diagnostic accuracy determination

of the SARS-COV-2 point of need assays.

Cross-border Collaboration

involving 9 countries from Europe, North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Building Capacity

for safe sample handling and inactivation using the glove box.

Suitcaselab Implementation

for rapid detection of SARS-COV-2.

Figure 1: peakPCR desktop (left), portable (middle) and qPCR sample holder (right).

Figure 2: COVID-19 nucleocapsid protein lateral flow assay with our electrochemical readout device.

Once validated, the suitcase lab can be deployed at point of entry, walk-through test centers as well as remote areas for outbreak investigations. The suitcase lab will pave the way for rapid identification of infected cases and enhance prompt management as well as immediate implementation of control measures against the spread of SARS-COV-2.

Background

COVID-19 has emerged as a new viral disease in late 2019 and has rapidly spread and developed into a global pandemic with severe health and economic impact. Although real-time RT-PCR is currently used as the standard method for SARS-COV-2 molecular diagnosis, it requires a well-established laboratory, specifically trained personnel, is time-consuming (2-5 hours) and thus involves high costs altogether. Therefore, the need of other rapid and simple diagnostic approaches maintaining the high performance of RT-PCR is of utmost urgency.

In the past 3 years, Prof. Stark´s at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland (ETH) working group has designed and constructed a completely new PCR instrument (called “peakPCR”) with a proprietary metallic sample holder, built with inexpensive and easily available components and therefore at an extremely competitive price (Figure 1). Thanks to the low reaction volume required by the sample holder, the PCR amplification can be performed faster and generate significant reagents savings.

Dr. Vörös group at ETH is developing an electrochemically enhanced rapid antigen test for COVID-19 (RDT) at a roughly two orders of magnitude improved limit of detection compared to state of the art COVID-19 rapid tests, while retaining all the advantages of a rapid test: Speed, mobility and price efficiency (Figure 2).

The group from Germany, France, and seven African countries are working in the last five years on development and implementation of mobile suitcase lab (figure 3) operating an isothermal amplification assay, termed as recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay and recombinase aided amplification (RAA) assay , is widely regarded as a promising alternative technology to real-time PCR for field use as it provides results faster, amplifies nucleic acid at a constant lower temperature, and is accomplished with less expensive as well as simpler equipment.

The advantages of the suitcase lab are:

The size of the suitcase is 62+49+30 cm, which is easy to carry, transport and ship. A glove box will be used to inactivate the samples to avoid contamination of the environment and infect the technician or the health care worker.
Power source from solar panel with power pack.
Easy to be implemented in low resource settings.
Cold chain independence as reagents can be kept at 38-40°C ambient temperature for months without any effect on the assay performance.
A tight waste container allowing autoclaving or incinerating waste to avoid contamination of the environment.
Rapid time to result around 20 minutes including the extraction procedure.

WHO WE ARE

This project is funded by the EDCTP and the BRCCH. It is a collaboration between partners in Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar, Nigeria, DR Congo, Sudan and Uganda, where the field activities will take place, and partners in Europe involved with development and refinement of the SARS-COV-2 rapid diagnostic test.

The team

Dr. Ahmed Abd El Wahed, Lead coordinator, Leipzig University, Germany
Prof. Dr. Uwe Truyen, Head of data management, Leipzig University, Germany
Dr. Anavaj Sakuntabhai, Functional Genetics of Infectious Diseases Unit Institut Pasteur, France
Professor Vörös Janos, ETH Zürich, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Switzerland
Professor Wendelin Stark, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Dr. Michael Frimpong, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Ghana
Dr. Dia Ndongo, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal
Dr Jean-Michel Heraud, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal
Dr. Philippe Dussart, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar
Professor Olusegun George Ademowo, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr. Sheila Makiala, Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale du Zaire (INRB), DR Congo
Dr. Kamal Eltom, University of Khartoum, Sudan
Dr. Julius Boniface Okuni, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity, Makerere University, Uganda
Dr. Michele Gregorini, Post-doc resarcher, ETH Zürich -D-CHAB, Switzerland
Dr. Alexander Tanno, Post-doc researcher, ETH Zürich-D-ITET, Schwitzerland