Projects

DTECT-Schisto

Developing a fast, simple, antibody test for diagnosing schistosomiasis in blood or urine

Completed

DTECT-Schisto aims to develop novel point-of-care diagnostic tools for detecting schistosomiasis in patient blood or urine. The project brings together partners from Japan and the Netherlands, and is financially supported by the Japanese Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund.

US$ 700K

GHIT Fund investment

Partners
3

partners - Japanese and Dutch

About DTECT-Schisto

Schistosomiasis remains a major neglected tropical disease impacting the health of the lowest income populations. To guide control programs and to enable post-elimination surveillance, there is a critical need for novel sensitive, affordable and user-friendly diagnostics.

DTECT-Schisto, which stands for Diagnostic Tools for Elimination and Control programs Targeting Schistosomiasis, kicked off in April 2018. In the first two years, the team will select and validate specific parasitic antigens (protein or glycan) for assessment of schistosome-directed antibodies in patient blood or urine. Next, the team aims to develop rapid point-of-care diagnostic test(s) for schistosomiasis, in minimally-invasive body fluids. The test should be affordable, sensitive/specific, user-friendly, rapid/robust, equipment-free, and deliverable (ASSURED).

DTECT-Schisto is a partnership involving Japan’s Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NEKKEN), the Department of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Center, and Lygature.

Supporting scientific excellence

Lygature has helped to set up the consortium and acts as the Coordinator in this Dutch-Japanese partnership. We provide a range of support, thereby allowing the researchers to focus entirely on the science. Lygature’s activities include: 

  • Coordination and governance. As consortium coordinator, Lygature provides necessary governance in terms of monitoring progress, legal support, finance, and collaborations.
     
  • Communication. Lygature pro-actively coordinates engagement with key stakeholders to share the consortium’s ambition of developing a simple antibody test for detecting schistosomiasis.

DTECT-Schisto is an example of the Lygature mission to bring together partners from all over the world, thereby making a meaningful contribution to tropical medicine.

Lygature together with

Project updates


  • New publication

    POTENTIAL OF ANTIBODY TEST USING SCHISTOSOMA MANSONI RECOMBINANT SERPIN AND RP26 TO DETECT LIGHT-INTENSITY INFECTIONS IN ENDEMIC AREAS
    Parasitology International, Volume 83, 2021, 102346
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parint.2021.102346

  • GHIT Fund announces investment in schistosomiasis

    GHIT is investing approximately 76 million yen (US$0.7 million) in DTECT-Schisto to develop a fast, simple, antibody test capable of diagnosing schistosomiasis for control and elimination programs. 

    Read more


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