Smartphone-assisted tuberculosis detection by a smart amplification process and lateral flow immunoassay with a...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis remains a challenge, especially in resource-limited settings.
• Existing diagnostic methods often require specialized equipment and trained personnel, hindering rapid on-site detection.
• There is a need for portable, sensitive, and user-friendly diagnostic tools for TB screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a portable, 3D-printed sensing platform for on-site tuberculosis diagnosis.
• To integrate a novel smart amplification process with a lateral flow immunoassay for enhanced sensitivity.
• To enable both smartphone-assisted and naked-eye detection for broad accessibility.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 3D-printed sensing platform incorporating stacking pad lateral flow immunoassay (sLFIA).
• Utilized a sunrise-biotin-labeled smart amplification process (sb-SmartAmp) for signal amplification.
• Validated the platform using clinical TB samples, comparing results with established diagnostic methods.

Main Results:

• The integrated sb-SmartAmp and sLFIA system demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for TB detection.
• The portable 3D-printed platform facilitated rapid, on-site diagnosis.
• Smartphone-assisted image analysis and naked-eye detection provided reliable results, validated with clinical samples.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D-printed sensing platform offers a promising solution for accessible, on-site TB diagnosis.
• The combination of sb-SmartAmp and sLFIA significantly enhances detection capabilities.
• This technology has the potential to improve TB management and control globally, especially in resource-limited areas.