McKendry leads an interdisciplinary research team at the intersection of nanotechnology, telecommunications, big data, infectious diseases and public health. Developed and implemented smart phone-based, low cost, rapid-result infectious disease test kits based on
nanomechanics and deployed them in developing nations.
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Huge health and quality of life impact in sub-saharan Africa.
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British chemist and digital public health engineer
Director of i-sense (interdisciplinary research collaboration developing early warning sensing systems for infectious diseases)
She showed how nanosensors could 'feel' mechanical stresses in the cell walls of bacteria when the antibiotic Vancomycin attaches to them, an antibiotic which battles against hospital superbugs.
Understanding the process by which Vancomycin attaches (or fails to attach) to bacterial walls and weakens or kills bacteria, led researchers in this study to suggest other, potentially more effective alternatives compounds worthy of investigation
In 2014, also in Nature Nanotechnology, McKendry, and her co-workers, Joseph Ndieyira et al, used nano-sensors to test a theoretical approach to personalised antibiotic treatment for individual patients of the future.[10] Their prototype nano-mechanical sensors measured the amount of antibiotic freely available to target bacteria in human blood plasma, which contains serum proteins that also bind weakly to antibiotics, neutralising their effect against bacteria. This study mimicked an aspect of the complex physiology of human blood in a living patient. and was used to compare effectiveness of a novel antibiotic, oritavancin with the older antibiotic, vancomycin (which is threatened by evolving antimicrobial resistance).[10] 'Perhaps the most obvious diagnostic application,' the researchers concluded 'is to measure the active free drug availability in blood for a particular medical target and thereby determine appropriate doses tailored for individualized patients.'[10]
In 2020, her group reported a new ultra-sensitive virus detection technique based on quantum technologies using localised spins in nanodiamonds.
aims to harness the power of digital technologies to build a global early warning system to prevent deadly viruses from spreading around the world
infectious diseases rank among the greatest threats to human health
public health should protect populations → look at patterns of disease
best to detect disease early
many developing countries have little public health infrastructure
disease has huge economic impact
doctors are finding it increasingly difficult to treat bacterial infections thanks to antimicrobial resistance
better antibiotics + better health systems → early detections plays a crucial role
inherent time delays between exposure and confirmed diagnosis (incubation → symptoms → visit doctor → confirm diagnosis), leading to missed opportunities to give the right treatments early.
harnessing symptoms put on the web
more mobile phone subscriptions than people on the planet → high levels of use in developing countries.
components in our phone have gotten smaller and faster and cheaper.
80% of us search online for info about our health
aggregated searches can detect outbreaks up to 2 weeks earlier than public health
harnessing the power of social media
accurate diagnostics are the cornerstone of the early warning system
remote testing linked to smartphone, lets you send geographically linked information to public services
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Spin-enhanced nanodiamond biosensing for ultrasensitive diagnostics
breakthrough in early disease diagnosis which harnesses the power of quantum nanodiamonds and can give test results within minutes
viruses are at such low numbers, very hard to detect. dramatic enhancement in test sensitivity.
atomic defect = nv centered diamond
normally great for use in quantum technologies, can be used as a quantum bit, to store informationin its spin or as a quantum sensor that could be scanned over a material to make measurements of magnetism with unprecentended sensitivity
they recognized it could be used as a marker for in-vitro diagnostics, detector for diseases such as HIV
they are good for detecting because
high brightness
can be manufactured at very low cost
dont bleach or blink
their emission can be selectively modulated
they modulate the field to create a flashign fluorescent signal, like a lighthouse
creating the modulating fluorescent signal
fundamental limit of detection → 100,000 fewer nanodiamonds detectable than gold particles
will in the future be testable with a smartphone camera
""Paper-based lateral flow tests work the same way as a pregnancy test in that a strip of paper is soaked in a fluid sample and a change in colour – or fluorescent signal – indicates a positive result and the detection of virus proteins or DNA. They are widely used to detect viruses ranging from HIV to SARS-CoV-2 (lateral flow tests for COVID-19 are currently being piloted across England) and can provide a rapid diagnosis, as the results do not have to be processed in a lab.
The new research, published in Nature, found that low-cost nanodiamonds could be used to signal the presence of an HIV disease marker with a sensitivity many thousands of times greater than the gold nanoparticles widely used in these tests.""
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