(H-315) Development of a Sample Adequacy Control for a Human Papillomavirus 16 Rapid Test

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection (STI) and can eventually lead to cervical cancer. Especially for low to middle income communities who are usually underserved by traditional cervical cancer screening methods, having a rapid-diagnostic test similar to an in-clinic COVID test is essential to screening and devising a treatment plan for these communities. The goal of the project is to create a rapid test that can detect HPV in a patient sample, while also having high sensitivity, affordability, and requiring little to no special equipment. Without a trained lab technician performing the test, point of care tests require controls that provide confidence in users having performed the test correctly. By including primers for the human β globin gene alongside the HPV primers, we allow the test to report the detection of human DNA alongside HPV DNA, acting as a sample adequacy control. This control gives confidence in test interpretation as a cancer screening method.