Novel technologies used in hedimed
In HEDIMED, we are developing and using new technologies to advance research and science. Over time, we will introduce these technologies in depth in dedicated blog posts. Here is an overview of what is to come:
The new allergy testing technology developed by HEDIMED partner CSEM is a portable solution that eliminates painful skin tests and time-consuming lab procedures. The portable device is aimed for doctors, academia or industry. With results in just one hour, CSEM’s novel technology promises efficient allergy diagnosis, enabling the possibility for timely treatment.
Adapting efficient multiplexing technologies: Array-in-Well and Mesoscale
AiW and MSD are multiplex antibody assay platforms applied and developed by HEDIMED partners VTT and Tampere University aim to create more efficient analytical tools for the analysis of microbial and other antigens in human exposome studies. Depending on the platform, they enable the detection of ten to dozens of microbial antigens in one single well. Compared to conventional methods, such as traditional ELISA, these technologies offer a fast and more efficient investigation of pathogen-disease association from a very low sample volume.
Faecal volatilomics and so-called “electronic noses”
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are associated with human diseases and microbial metabolic activity. Bacteria produce many VOCs that play key roles in interaction with other microbes and host and the correlation between VOCs and gut microbiome and systemic diseases has been demonstrated. Faecal volatilomics is a novel discipline investigating faecal VOCs, some of which may be used to find fingerprints of diseases in question. Devices used for this purpose in HEDIMED are the portable Differential Mobility Spectrometry (DMS) by Olfactomics, which allows rapid and continuous monitoring of VOCs, and Gas Chromatography with Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography and Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (GcxGC/TOF-MS) by partner CULS.
In HEDIMED, these technologies are validated against other state-of-the-art methods for the characterization of microbes and microbial fermentation products in clinical stool samples of children, who progress to type 1 diabetes and their matching healthy controls.
