Below is a snapshot of why and how we think RPA is ideally suited to the development of rapid, highly sensitive and portable kits that can detect, diagnose and monitor in real-world settings.

Agriculture

RPA is a robust and highly sensitive technology for the development of seed testing, pathogen identification and other agricultural assays, including species authenticity testing. The isothermal amplification technology is
relatively resistant to plant phenolics and other plant inhibitors of PCR, and for some applications RPA has been shown to work on crude plant samples with high specificity and sensitivity, removing the need for further
nucleic acid purification. The ability to use RPA with simple, deployable lateral flow units and other disposable or battery-operated devices means that simple, highly portable assays might be developed for use in
crop fields, forests and resource-limited laboratories or satellite facilities.

Biodefence

RPA could have huge potential to save lives in the biodefense sector, where assay portability, speed and reliability are essential both for routine and emergency applications. The technology could be used to develop highly
sensitive and easy-to-use tests for environmental monitoring, and kits for use in pressured or volatile situations by first responders to test powders, liquids, surfaces and other materials or samples.

Water testing

RPA represents an ideal solution for on-site microorganism testing of both potable water and raw groundwater lakes and rivers. Generating results quickly and without the requirement for sample preparation, RPA could be adapted
to highly portable, easy-to-use disposable test kits that water utility companies could use for scheduled or ad hoc coliform or Cryptosporidium testing of reservoirs and tap water, and environmental bodies
could use to test natural water courses for polluting species.

Food testing

RPA is inherently suitable for testing in food safety and species verification applications and we encourage our users and partners to harness the TwistDx™ reagents, TwistAmp® test kits and devices to develop their own
assays. Researchers have shown RPA to be an effective method of testing for many food pathogens including species of Crohnobacter, Salmonella, Listeria, Vibrio, and some strains of Escherichia coli as
well as for detecting common allergens such as hazelnut, peanut, lupin, soybean, tomato,and maize.

Medical diagnostics

Fast diagnosis of infectious diseases can literally save lives, both by enabling appropriate treatment to start immediately, and by controlling spread. It’s not hard to see how RPA could feasibly be harnessed to develop point-of-care,
near-patient and field-use diagnostics that provide on-the-spot results. With on-site testing there is no need to recall patients back to a clinic or field site for their results and to give them their medication. Treatment
can instead be started as soon as results are viewed. This is a major advantage in rural or remote areas where patients have to travel considerable distances and communication is difficult. Contrast the use of an on-the-spot
RPA test with the requirement to send clinical samples off to centralised laboratories for PCR testing, or for microbiological culturing that can take 48 hours or more. We are encouraged that users are harnessing RPA to
develop rapid tests for some of the world’s most deadly diseases.

RPA demonstrates a number of features that make it well suited to a diverse range of microfluidic devices. Published research has also demonstrated that RPA can easily be applied to standard digital formats. Unlike PCR, RPA
is isothermal, works at a relatively low optimum temperature and can tolerate off temperatures and temperature fluctuations. This means that thermal control in very small, compartmentalised microfluidic device volumes is
simplified. There is no need for preheating the master mix before delivery into the system, and at a low isothermal temperature the effects of evaporation and condensation are not a major problem. In addition, RPA has been
shown to work well with surface-immobilised primers. These attributes are facilitating the design and engineering of new chip formats and structures. 

Veterinary

The advantages of RPA in veterinary medicine are similar to those for human diagnostics. Whether for detecting diseases in domestic pets or monitoring the prevalence of economically important infections
in agricultural livestock, RPA can be harnessed to develop rapid, highly sensitive and specific tests that can be used in the lab, at a veterinary centre or at farms and other field sites. RPA-based tests could also be
used at country borders, markets and other major sites of livestock sale and transportation, to monitor and potentially help to prevent the spread of infectious diseases on a national or international scale.