# Towards point of care HIV detection using repurposed glucose meters

> **NIH NIH R61** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $444,891

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Self-testing of HIV viral load would significantly reduce new infections and provide methods for HIV positive
individuals to monitor viral load in the privacy of their own homes. Testing at home followed by analysis of the
aggregate data would also assist health care providers, program managers and policy makers to determine the
impact of new clinical trials and other interventions. The challenges involved in developing self-testing HIV viral
load tests are formidable; for example, the current laboratory tests use milliliters of venous blood extracted in a
clinical setting. For self-testing, only microliters of finger stick blood are used, which has low HIV viral copy
numbers. To meet these challenges, an interdisciplinary team of scientists with a proven track record has been
assembled; the team includes expertise from Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering and Virology. The team has
successfully demonstrated the ability to detect influenza virus and measure antiviral susceptibility using
repurposed glucose meters in less than 15 minutes. Here, the strategy focuses on detecting HIV protease activity
using repurposed glucometers and correlating protease activity to viral load. Since low copy numbers are present
in a sample, signal amplification is necessary. In specific aim 1 (R61 phase), a caspase-3 proenzyme bearing
HIV protease peptide substrate will be produced. Exposure to HIV protease will result in an active caspase-3
enzyme, which will convert an electrochemically inactive substrate to produce an electrochemically active analyte
for detection and qualification with glucometers. In specific aim 2 (R61 phase), mesoporous silica beads capped
with anti-HIV protease antibody or peptide substrate will be produced. Inorganic catalysts will be embedded
inside the pores of the beads. Exposure to HIV protease will uncap the antibodies or peptide substrate and
release the catalysts, which will reach with a substrate to produce an electrochemically active analyte for
detection with glucometers. The first two specific aims are designed to be independent of each other to de-risk
this high risk, high impact project. Successful execution of specific aims 1 and 2 will lead to specific aim 3 (R33
phase), which would involve testing of the virus from culture and from HIV positive patients. The results from the
R33 phase will be compared and contrasted to laboratory based methods including highly accurate PCR
methods. At the end of the project period, proof of principle for a novel method that uses repurposed glucose
meters to detect HIV during the acute phase and when the viral load increases due to antiviral resistance or
discontinuing treatment will be established.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9986653
- **Project number:** 5R61AI140475-02
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Suri Saranathan Iyer
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $444,891
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9986653

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9986653, Towards point of care HIV detection using repurposed glucose meters (5R61AI140475-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9986653. Licensed CC0.

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