Government funding for foot and mouth detection

Southampton University spin-out Stratophase is to take the lead in a consortium formed to develop a field test for foot and mouth disease.

Stratophase will lead a consortium aiming to deveop a filed test for foot and mouth

The UK government-sponsored Technology Strategy Board will co-fund the £1 million development of the system, which will enable inspectors, and ultimately vets or farmers, to identify the infection on the spot, reducing both false alarms and containment time.

Dr Richard Williams, CEO of Stratophase, said: “The Technology Strategy Board investment will enable us to develop a practical solution much faster than would otherwise have been feasible. This technology could be mass-produced fairly inexpensively; every livestock owner could have one. This funding is another great endorsement of our unique biochemical measurement and detection technique.”

Stratophase say that new detector system - the Portable Direct Immunoassay Diagnosis Device for Animals and Humans (PDIDDAH) - will be significantly more sensitive and accurate than the field deployable antibody based lateral flow tests presently available. Laboratory-based techniques such as polymerase chain reaction tests are currently the most commonly used but, although they are highly sensitive, processing (sample transport, analysis and results) can take several days or even weeks.

Half of the project’s £1million budget will fund the further development of Stratophase’s  patented SpectroSens sensor chip technology. The sensor system will collect pathogens from the air and put them into a liquid stream. The liquid will then be analysed in the field using the SpectroSens optical detectors.