Science on Tap to discuss how point-of-care diagnostics are becoming a reality

Jacqueline Linnes  Download Photo

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Jackie Linnes, an assistant professor from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, will headline Purdue University's Science on Tap next week with a talk on the current and future advancements that are making health care accessible around the world.

The talk also will shine the spotlight on point of care (POC) molecular diagnostics in light of the ongoing Zika virus outbreak.

The informal lecture, titled "Bringing the Lab to the Patients: Point of Care Diagnostics for Global Health," is at 6 p.m., Feb. 18, in the upstairs at Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette. The talk, which is free and open to those 21 and older, is sponsored by the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Discovery Park.

"The recent Zika virus outbreak in the Caribbean threatens to cause birth defects and autoimmune disorders in unborn children, yet testing of suspected cases can only be performed at central labs such as the CDC," said Linnes, whose teaching and research focuses on user-centered design and translational challenges based on clinician and patient needs worldwide. "Why is it that, while tests exist for epidemic diseases of global health importance, they are confined to sophisticated laboratories with vast resources?"

Linnes said the future of point of care (POC) molecular diagnostics will be in the hands of the patients themselves. A device that she compares to a digital pregnancy text, developed in the Linnes Lab, will allow practitioners and even patients themselves to detect diseases on the spot.

"We are utilizing paper-based fluidic connections and cell-phone powered resistive heating to develop portable, instrument-free, molecular diagnostics," she said.

With mobile molecular diagnostics, users not only will be able to detect disease but will have the ability to connect to centralized health care settings for immediate referral and counseling, she said. This research will create rapid diagnostics and devices that enable disease prevention and improved care throughout the world.

The World Health Organization called the spread of Zika virus an "extraordinary event" in declaring an international public health emergency on Feb. 1 because of the virus' effect on pregnant women and their infants. Zika has spread to at least 25 countries and territories since first appearing in the Western Hemisphere last spring.

Experts have found a strong association between the virus and a rise in cases of microcephaly. Babies born with the neurological disorder have smaller, underdeveloped brains and can have severe developmental problems for the rest of their lives. Zika is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, which can spread a number of serious diseases, including yellow fever, West Nile virus, dengue fever and chikungunya.

Linnes has extensive experience in global health, including co-founding and managing field-testing and user feedback for PotaVida, a company that creates low-cost solar disinfection indicators for clean water, and leading user-response assessments of improved cooking stoves in rural Bolivia through Engineers Without Borders.

Linnes earned her doctoral degree in bioengineering and a certificate in global health from the University of Washington.

She was a Fogarty Engineering Fellow in collaboration with the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Little Devices laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her fellowship research focused on ultraviolet disinfection technologies for the prevention of tuberculosis transmission with Dr. Edward Nardell in addition to leading the Little Devices initiative for mobile diagnostics development.

Linnes continued her postdoctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health before moving to Boston University's Biomedical Engineering Department, where she received an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellowship to develop paper-based molecular diagnostics for point-of-care detection of bacteria with Dr. Catherine Klapperich.

Science on Tap, led by graduate students Nelda Vazquez, Andrew Hesselbrock and Paula Cooper, provides Purdue faculty and collaborating researchers the opportunity to share research activities in an informal setting with presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience. The event has averaged 80 attendees per talk during the program's first four years. 

Writers: Anna Schultz, 812-447-5229, schult70@purdue.edu

Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu 

Sources: Jacqueline Linnes, 765-496-1012, jlinnes@purdue.edu

Nelda Vazquez, nvazque@purdue.edu

Andrew Hesselbrock, ahesselb@purdue.edu

Paula Cooper, porourk@purdue.edu