On the development of a DNA biochip prototype for parallel indication of actual pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia

19  07.2021 The institute has begun research on the development of a DNA biochip prototype for parallel indication of topical pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia, including the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Currently, in the Institution of epidemiology and microbiology named after Academician IN Blokhina of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, research has begun on the development of a DNA biochip prototype for parallel indication of actual causative agents of community-acquired pneumonia caused by a wide range of bacterial and viral pathogens, including the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The development and application in laboratory practice of a diagnostic tool in the format of a DNA biochip will make it possible to carry out a comprehensive differential etiological diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia, conduct an investigation of outbreak and group morbidity, timely implement anti-epidemic measures, which are necessary to optimize the system of epidemiological surveillance and control of community-acquired pneumonia at the regional and national levels. ...
A DNA biochip is a diagnostic tool based on the determination of a set of the most divergent regions of the genomes of actual bacterial and viral pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia (Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Chlamydophila pneumonia, Legionella pneumophila, Haemopilus influenzae, respiratory-synaptic virus 1 2, 3 and 4 types, coronaviruses, rhinoviruses, adenoviruses of groups B, C and E), which allows the detection of up to 12-14 infectious agents in various biological substrates (sputum, blood, bronchoalveolar lavage, saliva).
A biochip is an express test that makes it possible to choose the only correct diagnostic option. It looks like a small plate, 25x75 mm in size, on which short oligonucleotide probes are artificially synthesized to determine the "genetic portrait" of the pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia. A DNA biochip is not implanted into the human body; samples of biomaterial are taken from a patient in a medical organization and sent to a laboratory, where the presence of one or another infectious agent in the sample is determined using a biochip.
As part of the research, a protocol for sample preparation of various types of biological material will be developed for the detection of pathogens of community-acquired pneumonia using a DNA biochip being developed at the institute, and the accuracy of the results obtained will be assessed in comparison with the results of the polymerase chain reaction. The testing of the obtained DNA biochip on model and clinical samples of patients is planned in 2023–2024.