Novel Test for Point-of-Care Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

A simple urine or sputum sample could reveal whether someone has active tuberculosis within minutes, using a portable device the size of a smartphone. Tuberculosis kills over a million people each year, but current diagnostic tests are slow, expensive, or require lab equipment. Many patients in rural clinics are diagnosed too late or not at all. This project aims to close that gap by developing a test that detects an enzyme called BlaC, which is produced only by live TB bacteria. The test uses a fluorescent molecule that glows when cut by BlaC, and a cheap, off-the-shelf reader picks up the signal. If successful, this would be the first true point-of-care test for active TB. Healthcare workers in village clinics could diagnose patients in a single visit, start treatment immediately, and interrupt transmission earlier in the infection cycle. The test is designed to cost a fraction of existing lab-based methods and requires no external amplification, making it practical for low-resource settings. The company behind the work, Global BioDiagnostics Corp., plans to bring the test to global markets, potentially reshaping how TB is managed in the places that need it most.