Project Lead(s): Misaki Wayengera
Existing diagnostic technologies for detecting Ebola virus (EBOV) and Marburg virus (MARV) require laboratory facilities not present at the point of care (POC) in equatorial African villages, where these two Filoviruses cause rare but highly fatal viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs).
As a first step towards the development of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) based on the easy-to-use, cheap and yet reliable technology platform of lateral flow immunochromatography (aka paper strips or litmus test), three highly conserved epitopes in the filovirus surface or spike glycoprotein (Gp) were identified.
These three epitopes along with their derivative antibodies (polyclonal-PAbs and or monoclonal-MAbs) were postulated to be potential biomarkers for the capture and detection of the two filovirus specific antibodies or antigens (Gp) in exposed and or infected humans.