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Active TRL 2 (started at 2, targeting 5)
Point-of-care medical diagnostic technologies to store, process, and analyze a variety of biological and non-biological samples is a critical need for future human space exploration to enable in-flight diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of spaceflight medical conditions in real-time and inform early interventions for exploration missions with limited or complete inability for timely sample return and sample storage.
The Magnetic Electrochemical (Mag-EC) Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) project will validate a magnetically enhanced electrochemical sensor to detect clinical and research biomarkers (e.g. proteins, nucleic acids). Future efforts would then focus on integrating the sensor into a sample processing device. The overall goal is to provide a capability for long-duration spaceflight crew to perform earth-independent in-situ health monitoring and screening by detecting biomarkers for wide-spectrum clinical diagnosis and medical research, including cardiac and bone loss panels. Current development is focused on the detection of the cardiac marker Troponin-I and the prototype of modular fluidic manifolds.
Mag-EC technology could be used on Earth to perform point-of-care laboratory analysis in remote environments where medical resources are limited. For spaceflight exploration, Mag-EC technology will enable astronauts to diagnose, monitor, and treat spaceflight medical conditions in-situ without the need for biological sample return to Earth.
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