Single tube Point-Of-Care multi-drug resistant tuberculosis test

A single closed tube will diagnose multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in under an hour, using a portable machine small enough for a doctor’s surgery. Current TB tests can take days or weeks, require lab equipment, and often miss drug resistance until it is too late. This test targets both the *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* bacterium and the genetic markers of resistance to the two most powerful first-line drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid. It also distinguishes human TB from bovine TB, which matters in regions where cattle-to-human transmission is common. The entire chemical reaction happens inside one sealed tube, reducing the risk of lab workers inhaling infectious aerosols. If the test works at scale, it could transform TB control in low-income countries where the disease kills over a million people each year. A nurse in a rural clinic could swab a patient’s sputum, load the tube into the Enigma Mini-Lab, and get a result before the patient leaves. That would let treatment start immediately with the right drugs, rather than waiting weeks for a lab result. It would also cut the need to transport dangerous sputum samples to central labs, simplifying supply chains and reducing costs for health systems already stretched thin.