Title: CRISPRLY

Description: Cervical Cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide with greater than 99% of the cases caused by human papillomaviruses (HPVs). In 2018, approximately 311,000 women died from cervical cancer and more than 85% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Early detection of HPVs especially the high-risk strains is essential to prevent the disease progression by tissue removal. Among the high-risk strains of the virus, HR-HPV 16 is responsible for almost 70% of cervical cancer cases. The existing methods for HPV detection, such as qPCR lack sensitivity and specificity, while FDA-approved techniques like Hybrid Capture need invasive sample collection, expensive machinery and well-trained personnel. Detection of the HR-HPVs using a simple and rapid method is extremely important to take appropriate therapeutic action against cervical cancer, particularly in areas where specialized equipment is not available. We aim to design a point of care kit for the detection of the most oncogenic strain of Human Papillomavirus i.e., HPV16 using the CRISPR Cas12a system producing a visual readout on a lateral flow assay.

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