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NUCLEIC ACID EXTRACTION TEAM
The Challenge:
Nucleic acid-based diagnostics are a powerful tool for infectious disease diagnosis and human genetic testing. However, most require complex and expensive extraction steps to make the sample suitable for nucleic acid amplification; current gold-standard methods of nucleic extraction through the use of silica-based columns and nucleic acid amplification are of limited usefulness in resource-limited settings, as equipment and training costs are unreasonable and therefore prohibitively high. ​
Our Goal:
Design a simple, low-cost nucleic acid extraction device that can isolate DNA or RNA from a fingerstick blood sample for downstream amplification and detection.
What We've Done
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​Conducted a thorough literature review of existing technologies for nucleic acid extraction
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Decided to pursue a device which extracts nucleic acids using paramagnetic beads
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Sketched out various ways in which we might be able to automate this process using simple electronics​
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Current Goals
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​Develop a reliable method for collecting and re-homogenizing magnetic beads within a reaction chamber
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Optimize each process step to improve extraction efficiency
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Integrate extraction process into a device using simple electronics
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Contact
Undergraduate Student Leads:​
Maddie Ho - mho24@uw.edu
Trevor Gaffney - tgaffney@uw.edu
Graduate Student Lead:
Rhett Britton - brittonr@uw.edu
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