PLANT-DX: Field-Based Multiplexed Crop Pathogen Surveillance

Julius Lucks of Northwestern University in the U.S. is developing a low-cost field test that can detect multiple plant pathogens and produce simple visual outputs for farmers in low-income countries to better monitor their crops. Current diagnostic field tests only detect one disease and are generally costly and difficult to use. In Phase I, they developed a sensitive, multiplexed assay that can detect multiple pathogens using biosensors and produce colorimetric outputs, and performed successful field-testing in several countries. In Phase II, they will generate a flexible diagnostic platform that uses computational models to rapidly optimize and formulate tests for a range of plant pathogens by combining nucleic acid sequence-based amplification with CRISPR Cas13 detection. They will also optimize cost, usability, and stability, and test performance in the laboratory and in the field in New Zealand, Kenya, and Uganda.