Handheld Purification-Free Nucleic Acid Testing Device for Point-of-Need Detection of Malaria from Whole Blood

Aneesh Kshirsagar, Gihoon Choi, Vishaka Santosh, Tara Harvey, Robert Cory Bernhards, Weihua Guan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

World Health Organization’s aim to eliminate malaria from developing/resource-limited economies requires easy access to low-cost, highly sensitive, and specific screening. We present a handheld nucleic acid testing device with on-chip automated sample preparation to detect malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) infection from a whole blood sample as a feasibility study. We used a simple two-reagent-based purification-free protocol to prepare the whole blood sample on a piezo pump pressure-driven microfluidic cartridge. The cartridge includes a unique mixing chamber for sample preparation and metering structures to dispense a predetermined volume of the sample lysate mixture into four chambers containing a reaction mix. The parasite genomic DNA concentration can be estimated by monitoring the fluorescence generated from the loop-mediated isothermal amplification reaction in real time. We achieved a sensitivity of ∼0.42 parasite/μL of whole blood, sufficient for detecting asymptomatic malaria parasite carriers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)673-683
Number of pages11
JournalACS Sensors
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 24 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Bioengineering
  • Instrumentation
  • Process Chemistry and Technology
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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