Paper/Soluble Polymer Hybrid-Based Lateral Flow Biosensing Platform for High-Performance Point-of-Care Testing

Abstract

As a global shift continues to occur in high burden diseases toward developing countries, the importance of medical diagnostics based on point-of-care testing (POCT) is rapidly increasing. However, most diagnostic tests that meet clinical standards rely on high-end analyzers in central hospitals. Here, we report the development of a simple, low-cost, mass-producible, highly sensitive/quantitative, automated, and robust paper/soluble polymer hybrid-based lateral flow biosensing platform, paired with a smartphone-based reader, for high-performance POCT. The testing architecture incorporates a polymeric barrier that programs/automates sequential reactions via a polymer dissolving mechanism. The smartphone-based reader with simple opto-mechanical parts offers a stable framework for accurate quantification. Analytical performance of this platform was evaluated by testing human cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a preferred biomarker for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, in serum/plasma samples. Coupled with catalytic/colorimetric gold-ion amplification, this platform produced results within 20 min with a detection limit of 0.92 pg mL–1 and a coefficient of variation <10%, which is equivalent to the performance of a high-sensitivity standard analyzer, and operated within acceptable levels stipulated by clinical guidelines. Moreover, cTnI clinical sample tests indicate a high correlation (r = 0.981) with the contemporary analyzers, demonstrating the clinical utility of this platform in high-performance POCT.

Screen-Printed Graphene/Carbon Electrodes on Paper Substrates as Impedance Sensors for Detection of Coronavirus in Nasopharyngeal Fluid Samples

“…Several kinds of biosensors have been reported in the past for the diagnosis of different viruses. The mechanisms used for those detections include surface plasmon resonance [18], electrochemical transduction [19,20], including the impedance-based analyses [21,22], and colorimetric [23] lateral flow assays (LFAs) [24], which mostly target a specific antigen-antibody interaction. Some of these mechanisms have already been employed in biosensors [25] for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.…”

Improving the sensitivity of cellulose fiber-based lateral flow assay by incorporating a water-dissolvable polyvinyl alcohol dam

“…In hydrogel application, PVA, which is rich in hydroxyl groups, forms strong crosslinked networks (Yuan et al 2019 ), and PVA based hydrogels have various applications, including strain sensors (He et al 2020 ; Hu et al 2021 ). In addition, for its dissolvable polymeric barrier attribute, PVA has been used to program/automate sequential reactions in LFA (Han et al 2020 ).…”

Cobalt metal-organic framework modified carbon cloth/paper hybrid electrochemical button-sensor for nonenzymatic glucose diagnostics

“…With the advantages of high specificity, selectivity, and excellent catalytic performance, biological enzyme-mediated biochemical sensors have been applied in major POCTs with immuno-sensingand DNA-sensingmechanisms. For example, enzyme-catalytic optical methods were developed to construct fluorescent [ 11 ], chemiluminescent [ 12 ], and colorimetric [ 13 , 14 ] POCTs. The stable optical signal can be quantitatively read by the camera-based smartphone or portable electronic devices, whereas mini-light-source and customized optical components bring the cost issue.…”