Researchers have been awarded £1.2m funding to develop a new detector for tuberculosis in humans and livestock that can report a result in one hour.
The technology will be simple enough to be operated by any healthcare worker or veterinarian, according to researchers based in Wales.
It will be more specific and more sensitive than existing methods, as well as significantly quicker than other types of tests.
The high prevalence of TB in cattle in parts of the UK has a major effect on both the livelihoods and wellbeing of farmers.
The surveillance, diagnostic testing, badger culling and vaccination costs the UK government alone a total of £100 million per year.
TB is also a major cause of suffering and death in humans worldwide, and is the second leading infectious killer after Covid-19.
Professor Les Baillie, Professor of Microbiology at Cardiff University, and co-lead on the project, said bovine TB was a particular problem for Welsh farmers.
He said: "Diagnosis of the early stages of infection is challenging due to the lack of rapid, accurate tests.
“To address this, we are working with colleagues to advance the development of a real-time test capable to detecting the presence of the pathogen in clinical and environmental samples.”
Researchers will develop and evaluate the optical device which will, for the first time, attempt to solve issues with sample impurities and sensitivities.
Further investment in the project will allow the new technology to be reduced in both size and cost to create a simple, low-cost detector.
