Multiplexed detection of infectious diseases with microfluidic loop-mediated isothermal amplification and a smartphone

摘要

New tools are needed to enable rapid detection, identification, and reporting of infectious viral and microbial pathogens in a wide variety of point-of-care applications that impact human and animal health. We report the design, construction, and characterization of a platform for multiplexed analysis of disease-specific DNA sequences that utilizes a smartphone camera as the sensor in conjunction with a handheld instrument that interfaces the phone with a silicon-based microfluidic chip. Utilizing specific nucleic acid sequences for four equine respiratory pathogens as representative examples, we demonstrated the ability of the system to use a single 15-μL droplet of test sample to perform selective positiveegative determination of target sequences, including integrated experimental controls, in approximately 30 minutes. The system achieves detection limits comparable to those obtained by laboratory-based methods and instruments.