Affordable Preeclampsia Diagnostic Powered by Computational Protein Design

Alfredo Rubio of Monod Bio, Inc. in the U.S. will develop an affordable point-of-care diagnostic platform for prediction and detection of preeclampsia early in pregnancy. The assay system will use reporter proteins, designed de novo, for simultaneous (multiplex) monitoring of serum levels of two key preeclampsia biomarker proteins: sFlt1 and PIGF. The reporter system consists of a pair of proteins designed to bind different epitopes of the biomarker, together with a split luciferase reporter protein. It will be incorporated into a single-use microfluidic cartridge with a readout device for a rapid, one-step assay. This prototype device will be tested with human serum and whole blood samples spiked with the biomarker proteins. It will also be tested, in collaboration with Stephen McCartney of the University of Washington in the U.S., with 40 serum samples collected from the University of Washington Pregnancy Biorepository, half from patients with preeclampsia, comparing these clinical sample test results to those using a conventional ELISA.