Dr. Claudio Parolo Awarded with one of the twenty-one CaixaImpulse Innovation 2024 Grants
Dr. Claudio Parolo has been honored with the prestigious CaixaImpulse Innovation 2024 grant for his groundbreaking work on the DENMAL project. His project is one of the 29 biomedical projects selected among over 400 proposals from research centers, hospitals, and universities in Spain and Portugal.
After the pandemic, travel increased, and with it, cases of malaria and dengue, affecting 5 million people. With support from CaixaImpulse Innovation, Dr. Parolo in collaboration with Dr. o’Sullivan will develop a quick and affordable test to detect both diseases.
This innovative initiative introduces a nanoparticle-based lateral flow assay (LFA) designed for the simultaneous detection of malaria and dengue, which together account for over 42% of fevers in international travelers.
The DENMAL project leverages aptamers for their stability, cost-efficiency, and tunable specificity, offering a significant advantage over traditional antibodies. This rapid diagnostic test aims to improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by enabling early detection and treatment, addressing a critical gap in current diagnostic approaches for non-endemic regions.
Supported by a robust multidisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians, technologists, and business analysts, the DENMAL project is on track to reach a pre-commercialization level by its conclusion. The team is dedicated to involving stakeholders to maximize usability and leveraging business analysts to devise the best path toward commercialization, ensuring the approach effectively meets the critical diagnostic needs in non-endemic regions with unparalleled usability and efficiency.
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