Workshop theme: "Mycolic acid detection using portable devices"

General Announcement, Presentations, Announcement

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains a major global health threat, with over nine million new cases and close to two million deaths annually. Quick and sensitive TB diagnostics are urgently needed for case detection and drug efficacy studies. Our group has recently demonstrated feasibility of mass spectrometry-based detection of mycolic acids as diagnostic tool for TB infection. Using synthetic MA standards, quantification of specific precursor/ fragment transitions resulted in sensitivities of  approximately 10pg, when directly infused into a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer via electrospray ionozation. Since the majority of TB patients live in resource-poor settings, portable devices for mycolic acid detection would be necessary.

Analyte characteristics:

Mycolic acids are chemically inert a-alkyl-b-hydroxyl branched chain fatty acids of around 1,500 Da. They constitute major mycobacterial cell wall components and can thus be directly extracted from sputum of TB patients. 

Targeted participants:

Analytical chemists, mass spectrometry engineers, specialists in diagnostics and scientists from LipidProfiles, FIND and collaborating parties.

Expected outcome:

·     Feasibility of mass spectrometry based detection of mycolic acids using a portable device

·     Sample preparation from patient sputum

For further information please contact Dr Anne Bendt, anne_bendt@nuhs.edu.sg, (+65) 6516 6683.

 

LipidProfiles (www.lipidprofiles.com) is non-profit multicenter initiative anchored at th e National University of Singapore, focusing on development and application of tools for lipidomics research.

FIND diagnostics (www.finddiagnostics.org) is an internationally operating NGO aiming at the development and implementation of accurate and affordable diagnostics tests for low-resource settings.