The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for sensitive, affordable, and widely accessible testing at the point of care. Here we demonstrate a new, universal LFA platform technology using M13 phage conjugated with antibodies and HRP enzymes that offers high analytical sensitivity and excellent performance in a complex clinical matrix. We also report its complete integration into a sensitive chemiluminescence-based smartphone-readable lateral flow assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein. We screened 84 anti-nucleoprotein monoclonal antibody pairs in phage LFA and identified an antibody pair that gave an LoD of 25 pg mL −1 nucleoprotein in nasal swab extract using a FluorChem gel documentation system and 100 pg mL −1 when the test was imaged and analyzed by an in-house-developed smartphone reader. The smartphone-read LFA signals for positive clinical samples tested ( N = 15, with known Ct) were statistically different ( p < 0.001) from signals for negative clinical samples ( N = 11). The phage LFA technology combined with smartphone chemiluminescence imaging can enable the timely development of ultrasensitive, affordable point-of-care testing platforms for SARS-CoV-2 and beyond.
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Smartphone-based multiplex 30-minute nucleic acid test of live virus from nasal swab extract
Rapid, sensitive and specific detection and reporting of infectious pathogens is important for patient management and epidemic surveillance. We demonstrated a point-of-care system integrated with a smartphone for detecting live virus from nasal swab media, using a panel of equine respiratory infectious diseases as a model system for corresponding human diseases such as COVID-19. Specific nucleic acid sequences of five pathogens were amplified by loop-mediated isothermal amplification on a microfluidic chip and detected at the end of reactions by the smartphone. Pathogen-spiked horse nasal swab samples were correctly diagnosed using our system, with a limit of detection comparable to that of the traditional lab-based test, polymerase chain reaction, with results achieved in ∼30 minutes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1919015
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10159431
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Lab on a Chip
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1473-0197
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1621 to 1627
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d0lc00304b
