The test platforms have a modular design, are fully quantitative and applicable to various types of body fluids. NPD participates in several large international consortia (academia and industry), besides disease-related studies also specific collaborations to improve the UCP technology. Currently schistosome and mycobacterial infections are two main topics in our group. Together with LUMC dept. of Parasitology (dr. G.J. van Dam) we have developed an ultrasensitive test for helminthic Bilharzia, this test has become the standard reference to confirm Schistosoma infection. With LUMC dept. of Infectious Diseases (prof. dr. A. Geluk) we have developed a specific platform that allows simultaneous and quantitative measurements of multiple humoral and cellular biomolecules; e.g. biomarker signatures for tuberculosis and leprosy (mycobacterial infections).
Several of these tests are being used worldwide and are also applied in clinical trials to validate new vaccines. Besides human infection diseases, drug level determination, veterinary and agriculture applications are explored. Our research is funded by NIH and BMGF (United States), EDCTP and COST (European Union) and Ministry of Economic Affairs (the Netherlands).
