Summary

The previous Agrifutures funded effort to develop a rapid effective POC test was successful. The developed LAMP test has been found to be highly effective and comparative to the current gold standard RT-PCT from an analytic standpoint. However, the discovery of a variant HeV (HeVv) has led to the redesign of the LAMP to ensure it captures this variant. This has now been done and preliminary evaluation of the test performance has been positive.
With COVID-19 causing an explosion of rapid POC testing the federal government has recently established an official (SCAHLS) pathway to validate diagnostic tests such as we have developed. With the SCAHLS pathway now formalized this research project is relatively simple in that the goal is to run the developed LAMP test through the SCAHLS testing pathway to evaluate if it can be approved for use. Concurrently, during this testing pathway, we aim to develop quality control steps that will allow for the safe and effective use of this test in the future.

Program

Thoroughbred Horses

Research Organisation

The University of Queensland