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Published on: February 23, 2018
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Portable molecular diagnostic instruments in microbiology: current status.
1Department of Immunological and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia.
Summary
Portable molecular diagnostic instruments are suitable for mobile microbiology, enabling rapid infectious disease diagnosis. Further development is needed for broader assay availability, multiplexing, and cost reduction.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Molecular Diagnostics
Background:
- Mobile microbiology offers global potential to reduce infectious disease morbidity and mortality.
- Molecular diagnostics in mobile settings enable rapid, accurate etiological diagnostics and timely clinical care.
- Limited research exists on clinically validated, commercially available molecular diagnostic instruments in mobile laboratories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the suitability of portable molecular diagnostic instruments for mobile laboratories.
- To evaluate instruments based on analytical concepts, technical features, and environmental requirements.
- To summarize validation study results for portable molecular diagnostic instruments.
Main Methods:
- Extracted technical features from manufacturers' websites.
- Searched PubMed for peer-reviewed publications on validation studies of molecular assays for selected instruments.
Main Results:
- Eight portable instruments were evaluated: Alere q, GeneXpert Edge, GeneXpert Omni, Genedrive, PanNAT, Revogene, cobas Liat, and ID Now.
- cobas Liat and Alere i assays showed comparable performance to standard-of-care in various clinical settings.
- Alere q and Genedrive demonstrated acceptable performance for specific applications like early infant diagnosis and Hepatitis C virus RNA detection.
Conclusions:
- Several portable molecular diagnostic platforms are suitable for mobile microbiology applications.
- Future development should focus on broader assay menus, multiplexing, reducing invalid results, and lowering costs.
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