MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Stephanie Angione
PhD Candidate
Brown University School of Engineering
Center for Biomedical Engineering
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: This study demonstrates the application of a novel nucleic acid detection platform to detect
Clostridium difficile (
C. difficile)
in subjects presenting with acute diarrheal symptoms. This method amplifies three genes associated with
C. difficile infection as well as genes associated with virulence attributed to the NAP1/027/BI strain. The novel PCR assay allows for simple and rapid detection of three
C. difficile genes:
tcdB,
cdtB, and
tcdC, which code for
C. difficile toxin B,
C. difficile binary toxin, and a protein suspected to regulate toxin production, which includes the NAP1/027/BI
tcdC variant. Amplification of DNA from the
tcdB,
tcdC and
cdtB genes can be carried out using a droplet sandwich platform that performs real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in microliter droplets for the detection and identification of amplified fragments of DNA. Our technique of multiplex gene amplification provides a unique method that is both sensitive and specific to rapidly detect
C. difficile in patient stool samples that can be adapted to point-of-care testing.
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