1. Paper-based sample-to-answer molecular diagnostic platform for point-of-care diagnostics
- Author
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Wan Abu Bakar Wan Abas, Ruihua Tang, ShuQi Wang, Belinda Pingguan-Murphy, Feng Xu, and Jane Ru Choi
- Subjects
Paper ,endocrine system ,Computer science ,Point-of-care testing ,Biomedical Engineering ,Biophysics ,Nanotechnology ,Sample (statistics) ,Specimen Handling ,Electrochemistry ,Instrumentation (computer programming) ,Medical diagnosis ,Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ,Point of care ,Medical treatment ,Sequence Analysis, RNA ,ComputerSystemsOrganization_COMPUTER-COMMUNICATIONNETWORKS ,fungi ,Equipment Design ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,General Medicine ,Paper based ,Equipment Failure Analysis ,body regions ,Molecular Diagnostic Techniques ,Risk analysis (engineering) ,Point-of-Care Testing ,Nat ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Nucleic acid testing (NAT), as a molecular diagnostic technique, including nucleic acid extraction, amplification and detection, plays a fundamental role in medical diagnosis for timely medical treatment. However, current NAT technologies require relatively high-end instrumentation, skilled personnel, and are time-consuming. These drawbacks mean conventional NAT becomes impractical in many resource-limited disease-endemic settings, leading to an urgent need to develop a fast and portable NAT diagnostic tool. Paper-based devices are typically robust, cost-effective and user-friendly, holding a great potential for NAT at the point of care. In view of the escalating demand for the low cost diagnostic devices, we highlight the beneficial use of paper as a platform for NAT, the current state of its development, and the existing challenges preventing its widespread use. We suggest a strategy involving integrating all three steps of NAT into one single paper-based sample-to-answer diagnostic device for rapid medical diagnostics in the near future.
- Published
- 2015