Dragonfly

Dragonfly is a portable, rapid and highly accurate solution for detecting multiple pathogens simultaneously.

Designed for point-of-care use, Dragonfly eliminates the need for bulky lab equipment, making it ideal for low-resource settings, remote areas and emergency responses.

Key features

• Ultra-fast – sample-to-result in under 30 minutes
• No specialist equipment or training required
• High sensitivity and specificity
• Flexible testing for multiple pathogens, including COVID-19, Influenza A/B, RSV, mpox and other skintropic viruses, malaria and more
• Smartphone integration for automated result analysis

How it works

Dragonfly is a molecular diagnostic platform that integrates power-free nucleic acid extraction with lyophilised colourimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) chemistry.

This approach significantly reduces hands-on time and time-to-result.

It also eliminates the need for cold-chain storage and minimises the requirement for complex, bulky and expensive instrumentation.

Developed at Imperial with the Jameel Fund

Dragonfly was developed at Imperial College London and in 2021 the research team was awarded a grant by the Jameel Fund for Infectious Disease Research and Innovation.

Originally developed for COVID-19 screening, the grant from the Jameel Fund helped the team expand Dragonfly to detect other respiratory viruses.

Three of the Imperial researchers behind Dragonfly – Jesus Rodriguez Manzano, Pantelis Georgiou and Nicolas Moser – co-founded ProtonDx, a spin-out company that is commercialising the technology.

Read key research papers on Dragonfly here:

• Nature Communications (2025)
• Analytical Chemistry (2024)
• ACS Central Science (2021)

Testing and validation

In 2022, Dragonfly received the CE mark for in vitro diagnostic medical devices (CE-IVD), certifying that it complies with the European Union's In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive.

Dragonfly has been field tested in extreme environments from the Arctic to Zambia.

Arctic: Extreme cold, reliable results

In August 2024, infectious disease specialist Major Scott Pallett embarked on a 250 km unsupported Arctic expedition, 600 km north of the Arctic Circle, to test Dragonfly in -35°C temperatures.

Results:

• Successfully detected Influenza A in extreme conditions
• Confirmed portability and robustness in one of the world's harshest environments

Dragonfly delivers reliable results in the world's harshest conditions. I'm confident this kit could cope with any environment.

Zambia: Diagnostics for low-resource settings

In late 2024, Dragonfly was deployed in Zambia as part of the Livingstone revisited expedition, a mission to improve healthcare in remote communities.

Key outcomes:

• Demonstrated ease of use in low-resource clinics
• Enabled rapid, accurate diagnosis without lab infrastructure
• Supported antimicrobial stewardship by reducing misdiagnosis

ProtonDx's highly portable technology can provide rapid and accurate diagnosis of multiple pathogens in the harshest environments.

The success in Zambia has led to plans for further deployment in sub-Saharan Africa, with findings to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

• Read the expedition report