About

In VALIPRO we develop and validate a TIRF based biochip system that meets the mandatory borderlines of accuracy and precision for fast and reliable point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of sepsis. We focus on building up high quality biochip production, including the optical chip, the cover chip with the microfluidics, coating, spotting and in system biomarker assay.

Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic body infection manifested by symptoms ranging from elevated heartbeat, breathing difficulties and fever to severe necrosis of the internal organs. It is caused by microbial pathogens, mostly bacteria. The mortality rate is still unacceptably high (about 40%).

With about 300.000 cases of severe sepsis per year the impact on health economy is huge: the annual cost to Europe as a whole has been estimated to be approximately € 7.6 billion (ref.)Davies A, Green C, Hutton J. 581 Severe sepsis: a European estimate of the burden of disease in ICU oral presentation abstract from 14th Annual Congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland, 30 September-3 October 2001. Intensive Care Medicine 2001; 27(Suppl 2): S284.

To reduce the incidence of sepsis and improve the outcome for the patient early stage diagnosis which allows timely administration of antibiotics and intensive-care treatment are of critical importance.