Detection and Diagnosis of STDs in Conjunction with the HIV Virus

Project Description:
Humans have for thousands of years struggled with STDs; Detection, diagnosis, treatment and possible annihilation of the viruses that cause them. In the late 1970’s a new virus was introduced into the family of STDs, its name: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This silent killer has been plaguing us since its discovery, even though the scientists have now gathered enough information about the virus to produce an effective method for controlling the disease, they have not been able to completely eradicate it.

One of the most important steps in curing a disease is detection and diagnosis. In the United States of America there exist a system of education and testing which provides free and anonymous testing for this deadly disease; however that is not the case for the most third world countries. Detection and early diagnosis of all STD’s has been an important step in treating these diseases. Most STDs are detectable via blood testing; in order for the physicians to diagnose a patient with an STD blood samples of the blood are taken and sent to a lab for testing. In countries with limited resources STD testing is not as fast and effective as the developed countries.

The objective of this project is to develop a low cost, high accuracy portable testing device that can detect the combination of the HIV and any of the common STDs. This design needs to be easy to use by both the physicians and the patients, and it needs to be easily available for everyone to use. The goal is to be able to mass produce this device and send it to the countries that suffer from an epidemic of STDs. This device needs to be durable, safe to use, easily produced, and accurate.

Project Mentor:
Engineering Mentor: Maryam Shakib, MS, Software Test Engineer, Applied Medical, Maryam.Shakib@appliedmedical.com
Physician Mentor: None

Other Resources:
Note: students will need to sign an IP agreement to work on this project.

Team Members:

Henry Minh Hoang, Jeremy James Jacinto, Jennifer Cam Luong, Sung Min Park, Angel Gabriel Ravelo, Yixiong Zhang