10110591Single step microfluidic LAMP testing for regulated pests and pathogens at border control postsClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKWhilst the need to produce more food from a smaller area of land has never been greater, we still lose 1/3 of all crops to pests (invertebrates, bacteria, fungi and viruses). Increased global trade is moving plant material and their pests globally, whilst climate change is extending their new and natural ranges. Non-native pests are regulated by Defra and the diversity of pests, materials and pathways through which they can arrive make early detection problematic. The biosecurity front line, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), inspect traded plants for planting and plant commodities, including wood and wood products moving in trade and perform in-land inspections of plants in nurseries, recently planted sites and the wider environment. This is achieved primarily through visual examination for signs of pests and symptoms of disease. In recent years APHA have deployed field tests (e.g. Loop mediated AMPlification -- LAMP - technology) at Points of Entry (PoE) to confirm identifications, this benefits trade as goods don't have to be held whilst inspectors await results of laboratory analysis. However, the relatively complex methodology used consumes time, taking inspectors away from inspection activity to perform diagnostic analysis. In addition, their unfamiliarity with diagnostic techniques can lead to poor reproducibility resulting in false positive and false negative results. The proposed work seeks to develop a completely automated, microfluidic cartridge-based LAMP detection system, to enable APHA inspectors to perform tests at the point of entry (PoE) without any hands-on intervention. The new approach will use the same validated LAMP tests that are currently available but will provide end-to-end automation of the process of sample disruption, cell lysis, reaction set up and interpretation of the results. The outcome of this is expected to be improved time and resource efficiency of inspectors along with improved detection rates of regulated pests and faster movement of traded goods through border control posts.