Developing a point-of-care (POC) test to detect HIV in infants and acutely infected adults in a low-resource setting has been a daunting challenge for researchers.
But a high school student at Vancouver’s York House School tackled the dilemma head on, creating the first POC test capable of analyzing HIV viral nucleic acids under considerable constraints.
Nicole Ticea, 15, was honoured May 23 for her research with a first-place finish at the Sanofi Biogeneius Challenge Canada in Ottawa.
The Grade 10 student, under the mentorship of a Simon Fraser University associate professor, created a system to amplify and detect HIV sequences based on crude samples.
Her research also included an idea for a micro-device that could be used in a point-of-care setting and analyze samples without access to specialized equipment.
Ticea was awarded $5,000 for her project.
