Search

Your search keyword '"Keane, Candice E."' showing total 8 results
Start Over Author "Keane, Candice E."
8 results on '"Keane, Candice E."'

1. Towards a smartphone connected test for influenza

Author

Keane, Candice E.

Subjects
610
Abstract

The rapidly evolving nature of the influenza virus means that there is the constant threat of a global influenza pandemic, which drives the demand for highly accurate, low-cost tests for diagnosing influenza infection that can be integrated into public health surveillance systems. A high proportion of influenza infection goes undetected, enabling onwards transmission to vulnerable individuals, with sometimes devastating consequences. The work presented in the thesis maps out the current influenza rapid diagnostic landscape and explores the accuracy of commercial rapid influenza testing and the characteristics that are necessary for the ideal influenza test. Important issues and challenges surrounding rapid influenza testing, as well as steps towards developing lateral flow based smartphone connected influenza tests are discussed. Key results include: (i) a review of the rapid diagnostic landscape for influenza detection; (ii) a meta-anslysis of the performance of rapid influenza tests in the community; (iii) an evaluation of four of the leading rapid influenza diagnostic tests to look at their performance; (iv) the feasibility of using a smartphone app to read influenza test strips; (iv) proof of concept lateral flow test for influenza antigen detection based on a target product profile; (v) proof of concept lateral flow test serological test for the detection of influenza subtype-specific antibodies; (vi) characterising antibodies and VHH by ELISA, mass spectrometry and biolayer interferometry. This thesis concludes with a summary of the main results and future work, including the potential for further development and optimisation of in-house developed tests, as well as large clinical studies to look at performance, usability, pathways to commercialisation and regulation.

Published
2019

2. Self-swabbing for virological confirmation of influenza like illness (ILI) amongst an internet based cohort in the UK, 2014-5

Author

Wenham, Clare, Gray, Eleanor R., Keane, Candice E., Donati, Matthew, Paolotti, Daniela, Pebody, Richard, Fragaszy, Ellen, McKendry, Rachel A, and Edmunds, W. John

Subjects
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine, virus diseases
Abstract

Background: Routine influenza surveillance, based on laboratory confirmation of viral infection often fails to estimate a true burden of influenza like illness (ILI) in the community due to the fact that those suffering from ILI often manage their own symptoms, without visiting a health professional. Internet based surveillance can complement this traditional health-service-based surveillance by measuring symptoms and health behaviour of a population with minimal time delay. Flusurvey, the UK’s largest crowd-sourced platform for surveillance of influenza, collects routine data on over 6,000 voluntary participants and offers real-time estimates of ILI circulation. However, one criticism of this method of surveillance is that it is only able to assess ILI, rather than virologically confirmed influenza. Objective: We designed a pilot to see if it was feasible to ask individuals from the Flusurvey platform to perform a self-swabbing task, and to assess whether they were able to collect samples with a suitable viral content to be able to identify an influenza virus in the laboratory. Methods: Virological swabbing kits were sent to pilot participants, who then monitored their ILI symptoms over the influenza season (2014-5) through the Flusurvey platform. If they reported ILI, they were asked to undertake the self-swabbing exercise, and return the swabs to Public Health England (PHE) laboratory for multiplex PCR testing. Results: The results showed that samples from 18/51 people who reported ILI tested positive for a virological confirmed infection through multiplex PCR testing. Conclusions: This demonstrated proof of concept that it is possible to apply self-swabbing for virological laboratory testing to an online cohort study. This pilot does not have significant numbers to validate whether Flusurvey surveillance does reflect influenza infection in the community, but it highlights that the methodology is feasible and self-swabbing could be expanded to larger online surveillance activities, such as during the initial stages of a pandemic to understand community transmission or to better assess inter-seasonal activity.

Published
2018

7. Self-swabbing for virological confirmation of influenza like illness (ILI) amongst an internet based cohort in the UK, 2014-5

Author

Wenham, Clare, Gray, Eleanor R., Keane, Candice E., Donati, Matthew, Paolotti, Daniela, Pebody, Richard, Fragaszy, Ellen, McKendry, Rachel A, Edmunds, W. John, Wenham, Clare, Gray, Eleanor R., Keane, Candice E., Donati, Matthew, Paolotti, Daniela, Pebody, Richard, Fragaszy, Ellen, McKendry, Rachel A, and Edmunds, W. John

Abstract

Background: Routine influenza surveillance, based on laboratory confirmation of viral infection often fails to estimate a true burden of influenza like illness (ILI) in the community due to the fact that those suffering from ILI often manage their own symptoms, without visiting a health professional. Internet based surveillance can complement this traditional health-service-based surveillance by measuring symptoms and health behaviour of a population with minimal time delay. Flusurvey, the UK’s largest crowd-sourced platform for surveillance of influenza, collects routine data on over 6,000 voluntary participants and offers real-time estimates of ILI circulation. However, one criticism of this method of surveillance is that it is only able to assess ILI, rather than virologically confirmed influenza. Objective: We designed a pilot to see if it was feasible to ask individuals from the Flusurvey platform to perform a self-swabbing task, and to assess whether they were able to collect samples with a suitable viral content to be able to identify an influenza virus in the laboratory. Methods: Virological swabbing kits were sent to pilot participants, who then monitored their ILI symptoms over the influenza season (2014-5) through the Flusurvey platform. If they reported ILI, they were asked to undertake the self-swabbing exercise, and return the swabs to Public Health England (PHE) laboratory for multiplex PCR testing. Results: The results showed that samples from 18/51 people who reported ILI tested positive for a virological confirmed infection through multiplex PCR testing. Conclusions: This demonstrated proof of concept that it is possible to apply self-swabbing for virological laboratory testing to an online cohort study. This pilot does not have significant numbers to validate whether Flusurvey surveillance does reflect influenza infection in the community, but it highlights that the methodology is feasible and self-swabbing could be expanded to larger online surve

8. Quantifying Biomolecular Binding Constants using Video Paper Analytical Devices.

Author

Miller BS, Parolo C, Turbé V, Keane CE, Gray ER, and McKendry RA

Subjects
Antigens metabolism, Kinetics, Antigens chemistry, Microfluidics, Nanoparticles chemistry
Abstract

A novel ultra-low-cost biochemical analysis platform to quantify protein dissociation binding constants and kinetics using paper microfluidics is reported. This approach marries video imaging with one of humankind's oldest materials: paper, requiring no large, expensive laboratory equipment, complex microfluidics or external power. Temporal measurements of nanoparticle-antibody conjugates binding on paper is found to follow the Langmuir Adsorption Model. This is exploited to measure a series of antibody-antigen dissociation constants on paper, showing excellent agreement with a gold-standard benchtop interferometer. The concept is demonstrated with a camera and low-end smartphone, 500-fold cheaper than the reference method, and can be multiplexed to measure ten reactions in parallel. These findings will help to widen access to quantitative analytical biochemistry, for diverse applications spanning disease diagnostics, drug discovery, and environmental analysis in resource-limited settings., (© 2018 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.)

Published
2018
Full Text
View/download PDF

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results