Developing 'lab on a chip' technology to diagnose disease
With Pantelis Georgiou, expert in biomedical electronics
"I would like us to live in a world where routine health and wellbeing monitoring is embedded in our homes and daily activities using novel biosensing, wearable and diagnostic technology."
A passion for microchips set Professor Pantelis Georgiou on a mission to decentralise healthcare. Breaking the traditional model of sample testing in labs, his portable devices are designed for use in any location and are now helping diagnose malaria in patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Today we carry computers in our pocket, or wear them on our bodies,” says Pantelis, “so why do we need a huge sophisticated laboratory which is remote and can take days if not weeks to diagnose disease?”
This thinking has informed Pantelis’s journey at Imperial – from his PhD to his current role in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Pantelis’s vision of developing a ‘lab on a chip’, designed to bring rapid diagnostics to any location, is now a reality. 2020 saw the launch of the Digital Diagnosis for Africa Network – a major global collaboration, led by Imperial colleagues including Pantelis, which is aimed at improving diagnostic provision of malaria in low-income countries. It was also the year he co-founded his start-up company, ProtonDx, to commercialise the technology.
After Pantelis’s concept had proved successful in detecting Dengue in Taiwan and malaria in Ghana, the Covid pandemic proved to be a pivotal opportunity.
“We were able to show that our technology could detect Covid in under 20 minutes,” says Pantelis, “and it also revealed to the world that there was a huge unmet need for rapid diagnostics.”
“We were able to show that our technology could detect Covid in under 20 minutes,” says Pantelis, “and it also revealed to the world that there was a huge unmet need for rapid diagnostics.”
The latest version of the device, Lacewing, is a hand-held reader that features an array of thousands of electrochemical sensors on a microchip capable of detecting DNA and RNA. The Network has piloted the Lacewing prototype in sub-Saharan Africa and is also engaging with local public health agencies and end users to successfully deploy digital diagnostics in the region.
Meanwhile Pantelis and his team are also exploring opportunities such as AI-based wearables to monitor diabetes and other blood-based biomarkers.
He says, “Bringing the lab to the point of care is not only useful in dispersed communities. I would like us to live in a world where routine health and wellbeing monitoring is embedded in our homes and daily activities using novel biosensing, wearable and diagnostic technology. That is my vision of the future.”
About Pantelis
Pantelis has been at Imperial College since studying here for an Electrical and Electronical Engineering MEng.
“Electronic engineering was a natural home for me because I had a passion for microchips and invention,” he says. “I grew up watching sci-fi at a time when mobile phones and personal computers were just coming to fruition – I was always building things with Lego and tech.”
Pantelis progressed on to a PhD but decided that he “wanted to do something more impactful than creating the next computer”. This is what inspired him to explore how microelectronics can be used in healthcare, which became the foundation of his current research.
He says: “I stayed in academia because I enjoy having the freedom to create and innovate. Innovation often happens at the boundaries between disciplines, and Imperial is the perfect place for this. It enables you to get inspired by some of the brightest minds in the world and access an incredible ecosystem of entrepreneurial support.”
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