Simple Blood Collection to Improve HIV Testing Access

Rainer Ng of Baebies, Inc. in the U.S. will develop a system for finger-prick blood self-collection and sample processing that yields a sample ready for HIV diagnostic testing either at the point of care or after delivery to a central laboratory. A simple, disposable sample collection device will incorporate a membrane for plasma separation. Squeezing the device delivers plasma to a tube in which HIV-binding magnetic beads concentrate virions and reagents stabilize them. The prototype system will be optimized to ensure it generates over 100 microliters of plasma from self-collected blood, captures virions of sufficient quality and quantity to enable standard RT-PCR testing, and stabilizes virions sufficiently for diagnostic testing over three days after sample collection.