Emphasis

The program includes the delivery of healthcare that is safe, effective, timely, patient-centered, efficient, and available in centralized and decentralized locations. The emphasis is on developing technologies driven by clinical needs. Examples of technology development areas in this program include but are not limited to disposable lateral flow assays, nucleic acid testing platforms, glucose monitoring devices, etc.

Program priorities

• Rapid: ideal diagnostic test time to identify species and determine drug susceptibility profiles, process the clinical sample (if appropriate), and detection and delivery of the final test result during a single interaction
• Sensitive: sensitivity should be equivalent to or exceed current standards for proposed targets from the same sample type
• Specific: specificity should be equivalent to or exceed current standards for proposed targets from the same sample type
• Easy-to-use: integrated, closed sample-to-answer system with automated data analyses and/or result presentation and with minimal operator training and expertise required
• Cost-effective: projected production and operating costs should be consistent or an improvement on commonly used platforms

Featured programs and resources

Point of Care Technology Research Network

NIBIB created the Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN) to drive the development of appropriate point-of-care diagnostic technologies through collaborative efforts that merge scientific and technological capabilities with clinical need. Today, with the support of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institution, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Fogarty International Center, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, Office of AIDS Research and Office of Disease Prevention, the following Centers comprise POCTRN.

• Point of Care Technology Research Network Center- Coordinating Center
• Center for Point-of-Care Technologies Research for Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• The Center for Innovation in Point of Care Technologies for HIV/AIDS at Northwestern (C-THAN)
• Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME-POCT)
• The Center for Advancing Point of Care in Heart, Lung, Blood and Sleep Diseases

Visit www.poctrn.org for detailed information.

Point of Care Technology listserv

The e-newsletter serves as an information outlet to the Point of Care Technology community on current activities and initiatives involving point of care technology research supported by the National Institutes of Health. Join the NIBIB Point of Care Technologies listserv.

Notice of Special Interest in Physiological Monitoring and Point of Care Technologies for Trauma Care