Student leads race for instant DNA detection
Date: 13.2.2014
PhD candidate Evelyn Linardy is working on a portable DNA testing device that will allow doctors, researchers and border security to identify samples within 10 minutes.
The diagnostic technology, called EzyAmp, can be used to quickly classify pathogens, bacteria, animals and plant life on-site without the need to send off DNA samples to a lab – a much-needed breakthrough.
"There's a whole field out there desperate for instant DNA detection, it's the Holy Grail," says Evelyn, who is currently completing her PhD with UNSW and SpeeDx Pty Ltd, a medical diagnostic company in Sydney.
Evelyn has already won two prizes for EzyAmp in the UNSW Innovation Awards in 2013, but she's now working on speeding up the detective process to under 10 minutes.
"At the moment we can do it in around 40 minutes, which is better than many technologies currently on the market, but we want it to be like the pin-prick blood glucose reader where you get the results almost immediately," she says.
If successful, the technology will have a big impact on a wide range of industries, from medicine and environmental monitoring to border security.
