An Integrated, Portable, and Automatic Digital Detection System for Hepatitis B Virus Using Hybrid Magnetic System

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Medical Diagnostics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Accurate and rapid infectious disease diagnosis is vital for public health.
• Traditional nucleic acid detection methods can be labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the integrated portable and automatic digital detection system (IPADS) for nucleic acid detection.
• To evaluate the performance of IPADS for detecting hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA.

Main Methods:

• Developed an integrated portable and automatic digital detection system (IPADS) utilizing a hybrid magnetic system (HMS) for nucleic acid extraction.
• Integrated HMS-based preprocessing with digital RPA-Cas12a for enclosed and automated detection.
• Assessed IPADS performance using 20 clinical serum samples for HBV DNA detection.

Main Results:

• The hybrid magnetic system (HMS) achieved over 80% nucleic acid extraction efficiency.
• Digital RPA-Cas12a detection demonstrated a dynamic range of five orders of magnitude and a sensitivity of 100 copies/mL.
• IPADS showed high concordance with gold-standard quantitative PCR (qPCR) for HBV DNA detection.

Conclusions:

• IPADS offers a rapid, automated, and efficient solution for nucleic acid detection.
• The system has potential as a reliable point-of-care testing (POCT) solution for infectious diseases.
• IPADS simplifies sample processing and reduces risks associated with traditional methods.