Pushing it to the limit

Laboratory News learns of a new diagnostic tool that provides instant analysis of biomarkers for healthcare and sports medicine all in the palm of your hand

Biomarkers can be used to detect a wide range of changes in the body. The presence of an antibody, for example, may indicate an infection such as swine flu. Various cardiac biomarkers can indicate the likelihood of a heart attack or the risk of future heart problems. Levels of hormones, such as testosterone or cortisol, can offer insight into the effectiveness of training and fitness programmes.

The obvious advantage of being able to detect these biomarkers is being able to provide early treatment, or the design of tailor-made recovery programmes. It also has important implications in areas like sport, where athletes need to be at the top of their game. By testing before, during and after training sessions, biomarkers can give a clear indication of the effectiveness of a particular training programme.

A lot of research is going into discovering new biomarkers and effective ways of testing for them, and their potential for diagnostics is improving all the time. However one of the challenges is the time it takes to produce the analysis. Currently samples have to be analysed in a laboratory, which means sending samples, carrying out the analysis process and returning the results, which can take up to 48 hours. This time delay limits the value of such diagnostic techniques when testing heart conditions or designing an ever-changing training programme.

Cardiac arrests are a prime example of the need for such rapid diagnostics. In the first hour after symptoms start occurring – known as the Golden Hour – rapid diagnosis and treatment can make a huge difference. The correct treatment during this small but crucial window can reduce or eliminate long term impact and speed recovery time. Paramedics on the scene need accurate, quantitative results produced quickly so they can decide on the correct response.

Argento Diagnostics – a spin out of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Measurement Institute – are one of several companies developing a rapid diagnostic technology to address the problems associated with slow clinical laboratory diagnosis. Keith Page, CEO of Argento Diagnostics, describes the technology as “a hand-held device that quickly provides a full diagnosis from a single small sample, such as blood, urine or saliva, returning results within minutes. It’s like a laboratory in the palm of your hand. The results quickly identify injuries or medical conditions, enabling rapid treatment before long-term damage can be done, and therefore increase the chance of a quick recovery.”

Argento’s portable device uses nanotechnology to analyse the sample. Dr Rob Porter, Argento’s Chief Scientific Officer and the inventor of the technology, explains that magnetic beads and silver nanoparticles are coated with an antibody against the biomarker that is indicative of the condition being tested for. The sample is mixed with the antibody-coated particles and incubated.

If the biomarker is present it will bind to the antibodies on both the silver nanoparticles and the magnetic particles creating a sandwich with the biomarker protein in the middle. Magnets then pull these compounds into the detection chamber, thereby pulling through all of the protein present in the sample, and eliminating all non-bound silver nanoparticles.

The silver nanoparticles in the detection chamber are therefore directly proportional to the level of the protein being tested for. To measure the silver nanoparticles, they are chemically separated from the protein and magnetic particle in a way which leaves them negatively charged. They are then drawn down to a positive electrode, which is measured. The strength of the electrode’s charge represents the number of silver nanoparticles, which is directly proportional to amount of biomarker in the sample.

The device can therefore quickly analyse the biomarker level and, using specialist software, summarise it in a meaningful way on an on-screen readout.

One of the current key applications of the technology is to provide real time data for sports training and recovery programmes. Argento has signed its first contract with UK Sport, the UK’s high performance sports agency, to use the technology to help athletes reach the peak of their fitness when preparing for upcoming sporting competitions.

Everyone reacts differently to training, so understanding how activities affect the body helps ensure that athletes follow the best programmes for them and avoid injury. This is particularly important for elite level athletes, where small changes in fitness can be the key to success. The contract with Argento will mean that elite athletes will be able to monitor various proteins which reveal details about the condition of the body.

The collaboration with UK Sport, which is also co-funded by the English Institute of Sport (EIS) and the Scottish Institute of Sport (SIS), will give the UK’s leading athletes access to Argento technology. “UK Sport supports world class athletes to increase their chance of success on the international sporting stage,” said Dr Scott Drawer, Head of Research and Innovation at UK Sport. “The availability of this real-time monitoring will enable training to be customised not only to the individual but also to their current condition, marking a huge step forward in preparing our athletes for future success.”

Page adds: “The deal with UK Sport will allow a dramatically increased understanding of how the human body works when being pushed to its limit and we can use that information to continue to improve physical performance. This is a great example of the UK’s world-leading science expertise supporting our world-leading sportsmen and women.”

Whilst the agreement with UK Sport marks the first commercial use for Argento’s technology the device has applications in a variety of other areas. Page and Porter are currently talking to several organisations about rolling out the technology in other industries.

Argento sees its primary applications as being in healthcare, particularly in the areas of rapid response treatment, sports medicine and animal healthcare. There are several applications being explored in the food and environmental industries, such as identifying antibiotic residues and contaminants of fuel and water. Argento is also targeting the security industry where it has applications such as roadside drug testing or identifying infectious diseases like SARS and influenza A at border controls.

“Ultimately we hope the technology will save lives, improve quality of life for the elderly and chronically sick, improve animal welfare, and reduce costs to the medical and related industries,” Page concluded.