Highly Sensitive Array-Based POCT Sensor for Respiratory Pathogens.

摘要

Maxwell Sensors Inc. (MSI) proposed to develop a non-invasive pharyngeal pathogen sensor (PPS) system: based on an array of one-step fluorescence immunoassay (FIA) strips for respiratory pathogens panel detection and identification. The FIA strip disk provides operational simplicity, high sensitivity and rapid diagnostics for an array of respiratory diseases, Unlike conventional membrane-based immunoassays, which have poor sensitivity, the PPS system produces accurate and sensitive results in a compact hand-held unit. The self-calibrating RIA technique compensates for membrane variations and allows the PPS system to provide accurate and sensitive results. More importantly the proposed PPS POCT hand-held system is robust, such that it may be taken into the military field environment without compromising test accuracy. The operation procedure is very simple and easy enough to be used by personnel with no medical training. A throat swab is obtained from the subject; then the swab sample is inserted into a plastic tube with an extraction buffer solution. The tube is squeezed to deliver the specimen into the strip disk. After inserting into the palm reader, the reader automatically shows the respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) results within 10 minutes. The PPS system integrates an array of fluorescence membrane strips, and a palm reader with optoelectronics for easy, rapid, and sensitive detection. Fluorescent immunoassay is one of the most sensitive direct optical measurements.