Malaria species detection

Inventors

Galen, Peter • Bledsoe, James Daren • Blankenship, D'Arbra • Deissler, Robert J. • Goss, Steven M. • Grimberg, Brian T.

Assignees

Hemex Health Inc

Abstract

A diagnostic system that includes a cartridge and a reader. The cartridge can contain a patient sample, such as a blood sample. The cartridge is inserted into the reader and the patient sample is analyzed. The sample can be processed for data collection and analysis to provide interpretative results indicative of a disorder, condition, disease or infection of the patient. For example, the data collection and analysis can determine one or more hemozoin characteristics.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a point-of-care diagnostic system that determines a malaria species from a patient blood sample using magneto-optical detection (MOD). The system uses a cartridge that receives the patient sample and a reader that controls magnetic-field switching and measures light transmission. Hemozoin, as a paramagnetic biomarker produced by the malaria species, changes light transmittance in response to alternating magnetic-field states, generating a time-dependent data signal.

The system determines a feature of a first slope of the data signal, where the first slope represents a response to a change in a magnetic field applied to the patient sample. The time measurement starts when the magnetic field applied to the patient sample is removed or lowered and ends when a relaxation light transmittance value reaches a relaxation threshold or an alignment threshold. From this measured time, the system determines a relaxation time or an alignment time of the hemozoin.

Using the first slope together with the relaxation time or alignment time, the processor determines the malaria species and outputs the malaria species. The description further correlates relaxation/alignment behavior, including time-dependent relaxation/alignment features such as first-slope characteristics and relaxation/alignment times, to hemozoin characteristics such as amount and size, and uses thresholding and signal processing to separate parasite species based on Brownian relaxation and alignment under magnetic-field ON and OFF cycles.

Claims Coverage

The partial content identifies two independent claims (a diagnostic system and a method). Across these claims, there are three core inventive functions: extracting a first-slope feature from a data signal linked to magnetic-field change, deriving a relaxation time or alignment time from thresholded light transmittance during magnetic-field removal/lowering, and determining and outputting the malaria species based on those features.

The independent-claim scope, as provided, centers on (i) computing a first-slope feature from a MOD-derived data signal during a magnetic-field change, (ii) timing relaxation/alignment from thresholded relaxation light transmittance after magnetic-field removal/lowering, and (iii) determining and outputting the malaria species using at least the first-slope feature.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications