CRISPR/Cas-based personal glucose meters for nucleic acid detection

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Molecular Diagnostics
• Biosensors

Background:

• Personal glucose meters (PGMs) are widely available electrochemical devices.
• Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) systems provide precise nucleic acid detection.
• Integrating PGMs with CRISPR/Cas enables repurposing for non-glucose analyte detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically review the advances in PGM and CRISPR/Cas integration for diagnostics.
• To identify the limitations and challenges of this combined diagnostic approach.
• To discuss future perspectives for point-of-care (POC) applications.

Main Methods:

• Repurposing PGMs for electrochemical signal readout.
• Utilizing CRISPR/Cas for target recognition and signal amplification.
• Review of existing literature and case studies on PGM-CRISPR/Cas systems.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated feasibility of detecting various non-glucose targets using PGM-CRISPR/Cas.
• Highlighting the rapid detection and signal amplification capabilities.
• Identification of key challenges including specificity, sensitivity, and multiplexing.

Conclusions:

• The integration of PGMs and CRISPR/Cas holds significant promise for POC diagnostics.
• Addressing current pitfalls is crucial for clinical translation.
• Future research should focus on enhancing system robustness and expanding target detection.