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Center for Point-of-Care Technologies for Disaster Readiness
PI: Gerald Kost, M.D., Ph.D.
PI Institution: University of California, Davis
Grant Number: 1-U54-EB007959-01
NIH Program Officer (PO): Brenda Korte, Ph.D.
NIH Lead Science Officer (LSO): Grace Peng, Ph.D.
NIH Science Officer (SO): John Haller, Ph.D.
NIH Associate Science Officer (ASO): Katherine Serrano
Center Website: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/pathology/poctcenter/
The goal of the UC Davis-Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) point-of-care testing (POCT) Center is to improve the accessibility, portability, and field robustness of POC devices for critical care units, emergency rooms, community hospitals, rural areas, and disaster response sites. The UCD-LLNL Center will advance public health by developing new POC devices that accelerate diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening bloodstrem infections, prepare the Nation for future disasters, and enhance patient survival and outcomes through rapid decision-making at the bedside in hospitals, during acute care in emergency rooms, and for field rescue when disasters strike. The UCD-LLNL Center builds on existing infrastructure in the Point-of-Care Testing Center for Teaching and Research (POCT-CTR) which was established in 1995 on the University of California-Davis campus in the School of Medicine. The POCT-CTR conducts both basic science and clinical research and coordinates national multicenter studies and field studies abroad. Evidence gathered following the tsunami in southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina identified the critical need for improved POC technologies that can be used during disaster recovery.
Core 1 - The LLNL team will develop a compact, user-friendly POC system that uses isothermal loop mediated amplification (LAMP) for simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens (Candida sp., E. coli, Pseudomonas, S. aureus, and S. pneumoniae) in human whole blood samples, with reduction to practice as one prototype for hospital settings and a second, more robust prototype for rapid field diagnosis in emergencies and disasters.
Core 2 - The UCD team will facilitate the development of new POC devices consistent with the overall theme of critical-emergency-disaster care and also serve as a Network resource for the evaluation of emerging POC technologies to define environmental tolerance limits for heat, cold, humidity, shock, and water exposure (e.g., Hurricane Katrina).
Core 3 - Early practical trials and needs assessment surveys will generate robustness criteria and evidence-based standards for POCT implementation in DMATs (Disaster Management Assistance Teams), mobile rescue units, and small-world networks. Worldwide web-based distance learning and workshops will educate, train, and disseminate vital information from the new state-of-the-art Education Building and William F. Blaisdell Medical Library at UCDMC.
Core 4 - The POCT Center will train healthcare and technical developers in clinical applications of rapid pathogen detection and in POCT practices for adverse environments found in disasters.
Core 5 - Integrative leadership will move POCT discoveries swiftly into daily medical practice. POC connectivity trials with Telemedicine at UCDMC and the Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in Disasters, UC-San Diego, will deploy POCT for emergencies.
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