Dried Blood Matrix as a New Material for the Detection of DNA Viruses

Abstract

The gold standard for diagnosing viruses such as the Hepatitis B Virus has remained largely unchanged, relying on conventional methods involving extraction, purification, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This approach is hindered by limited availability, as it is time‐consuming and requires highly trained personnel. Moreover, it suffers from low recovery rates of the nucleic acid molecules for samples with low copy numbers. To address the challenges of complex instrumentation and low recovery rate of DNA, a drying process coupled with thermal treatment of whole blood is employed, resulting in the creation of a dried blood matrix characterized by a porous structure with a high surface‐to‐volume ratio where it also inactivates the amplification inhibitors present in whole blood. Drawing on insights from Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)‐ Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), detection assay is devised for HBV, as a demonstration, from whole blood with high recovery of DNA and simplified instrumentation achieving a limit of detection (LOD) of 10 IU mL−1. This assay can be completed in <1.5 h using a simple heater, can be applied to other DNA viruses, and is expected to be suitable for point‐of‐care, especially in low‐resource settings.