Novel versatile smart phone based Microplate readers for on-site diagnoses

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• Commercial microplate readers are essential diagnostic tools but are often expensive and non-portable.
• Limited accessibility hinders their use in home testing, rural hospitals, and developing countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a field-portable, cost-effective, and versatile microplate reader using smartphone technology.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of smartphone-based diagnostics for various analytical targets.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a smartphone's optical sensor to measure transmitted light intensities of liquid samples.
• Applied the developed smartphone-based microplate readers to quantify multiple analytical targets.

Main Results:

• Achieved sensitive detection limits for various targets, including alanine aminotransferase (ALT; 17.54 U/L), alkaline phosphatase (AKP; 15.56 U/L), creatinine (1.35μM), bovine serum albumin (BSA; 0.0041mg/mL), prostate specific antigen (PSA; 0.76pg/mL), and ractopamine (Rac; 0.31ng/mL).
• Demonstrated the reader's versatility across different biochemical and immunoassay targets.

Conclusions:

• The developed smartphone-based microplate readers are portable, inexpensive, and versatile diagnostic tools.
• This technology offers a unique solution for performing diagnostics in resource-limited environments with limited expertise.