A novel flow through assay and smartphone application based prototype for point-of-care diagnosis of tuberculosis

Joanne Hacking, Vanessa Valerie Gwenin, Mark Stephen Baird, Mohmmad Rizwan, Christopher David Gwenin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Affordable point-of-care test sensors with automated result recording are essential for reducing undetected tuberculosis cases in remote, resource-limited areas. Therefore, this study addresses this need with three key aims. First, we aimed to lower the costs of a patented flow-through assay (Kit and method: WO2016/024116A1) by developing an in-house method for producing antibody-coated gold nanoparticles (anti-IgG-AuNPs). These anti-IgG-AuNPs demonstrated specific binding with performance comparable to existing antibody-capped gold nanoparticles. The second aim was to transform the flow-through assay into a multi-disease screening tool by incorporating multiple antigen test spots. A newly designed wax-printed background allows for simultaneous testing of up to five antigens, delivering results within 15 min at the point-of-care, while also reducing assay costs by 70 %. Lastly, we developed a smartphone application (RAP-TBS) to provide quantitative analysis of the flow-through assay results. This user-friendly app requires no additional hardware and addresses the limitations of subjective visual interpretation. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.]
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)116766
JournalDiagnostic microbiology and infectious disease
Volume112
Issue number1
Early online date20 Feb 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 20 Feb 2025

Keywords

  • Mobile Applications
  • Point-of-care diagnostic
  • Flow-through assay
  • Tuberculosis - diagnosis
  • Gold - chemistry
  • Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry
  • RAP-TBS smartphone application
  • anti-IgG-coated gold nanoparticles
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology - isolation & purification
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Tuberculosis
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G - blood
  • Point-of-Care Testing
  • Immunoassay - methods - instrumentation
  • Point-of-Care Systems
  • Remote disease monitoring
  • Smartphone

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