Efficient detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG by a smartphone-based high-throughput fiber optic sensor

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Immunotechnology
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 necessitates rapid and reliable diagnostic tools for effective control.
• Existing diagnostic methods often lack the throughput, speed, or portability required for widespread community screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a smartphone-based high-throughput fiber-optic immunosensor (HFIS) for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.
• To demonstrate the system's advantages in terms of throughput, speed, sensitivity, cost, portability, and accuracy compared to existing methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a smartphone-based high-throughput fiber-optic immunosensor (HFIS) system.
• Testing and validation of the HFIS for SARS-CoV-2 IgG detection against commercial ELISA kits.
• Comparative analysis of HFIS performance metrics including throughput, speed, sensitivity, cost, portability, and accuracy (AUC).

Main Results:

• The HFIS achieved 100-fold higher throughput and was 3x faster than existing smartphone-based assays.
• Demonstrated enhanced sensitivity (86.05% detection rate) and laboratory-level accuracy (AUC = 0.96).
• The device is a portable, standalone unit with lower cost and improved performance over current technologies.

Conclusions:

• The smartphone-based HFIS provides a rapid, high-throughput, and accurate solution for SARS-CoV-2 IgG detection.
• This technology addresses the need for point-of-care diagnostics in field settings, suitable for large-scale screening.
• The modular design offers potential for adaptation to detect other infectious diseases.