Supporting our Local Industry to develop Point-of-Care System for Procalcitonin Detection

Temasek Polytechnic School of Engineering together with A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, jointly developed a medical diagnostics technology on “Nanohole Array Biochip Based Point-of-Care System for Procalcitonin Measurement”.  The point-of-care (POC) system which embodies the use of nanotechnology and microfluidics, is able to enhance procalcitonin detection sensitivity and reduce the amount of blood sample required.  In addition, this POC system is compact and fast, allowing testing to be performed at strategic locations such as neighbourhood clinics and hospital A&E department, or at rural areas where medical resources may be inadequate.

At the beginning of 2019, a local company Zearly Healthcare (Singapore) Pte Ltd expressed interest to bring the technology to market.  In May 2019, the POC technology was successfully licensed to the company.  With the licensing, the technology can be made available and applied in the healthcare system and thus, improving patient outcomes.