Next Generation Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip System for On-Site Detection in Oral Fluids

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Current drug abuse detection relies on invasive methods (blood, urine) or slow lab confirmation.
• Existing methods are inefficient, costly, and lack real-time data.
• Noninvasive oral fluid testing offers a promising alternative for rapid drug screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel, noninvasive oral fluid sampling and detection system for drugs of abuse.
• To assess the system's capability for rapid, sensitive, and quantitative drug detection and time-course profiling.
• To evaluate the potential of the system for roadside drug testing and clinical patient monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a noninvasive oral fluid sampling approach with the chip-based Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip (p-BNC) platform.
• Development of miniaturized analyzer instrumentation, customized disposables, and sampling devices.
• Utilized the p-BNC system for rapid (~10 minutes) detection and quantitation of 12 drugs of abuse in oral fluid.

Main Results:

• Achieved sensitive detection limits (~ ng/ml) for 12 drugs of abuse.
• Demonstrated the system's ability to provide time-course profiles of drugs and metabolites in oral fluid.
• Observed correlations between cocaine detection profiles and impairment, suggesting potential for real-time assessment.

Conclusions:

• The chip-based p-BNC platform offers a rapid, sensitive, and quantitative method for oral fluid drug abuse detection.
• The developed miniaturized system has significant potential for roadside drug testing by law enforcement.
• This noninvasive tool can also be used in clinical settings to monitor patient adherence to treatment.