A lateral flow assay for identification of Escherichia coli by ribosomal RNA hybridisation

Lateral flow assay of pathogenic viruses and bacteria in healthcare

Healthcare-associated pathogenic viruses and bacteria can have a serious impact on human health and have attracted widespread global attention. The lateral flow assay is a unidirectional detection based on the binding of a target analyte and a bioreceptor on the device via lateral flow. With incredible advantages over traditional chromatographic methods, such as rapid detection, ease of manufacture and cost effectiveness, these test strips are increasingly considered the ideal form for point-of-care applications. This review explores lateral flow assays for pathogenic viruses and bacteria, with a particular focus on methodologies, device components, construction methods, and applications. We anticipate that this review could provide exciting opportunities for developing new lateral flow devices for pathogens and advance related healthcare applications.

Scope of Onsite, Portable Prevention Diagnostic Strategies for Alternaria Infections in Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants are constantly challenged by different biotic inconveniences, which not only cause yield and economic losses but also affect the quality of products derived from them. Among them, Alternaria pathogens are one of the harmful fungal pathogens in medicinal plants across the globe. Therefore, a fast and accurate detection method in the early stage is needed to avoid significant economic losses. Although traditional methods are available to detect Alternaria, they are more time-consuming and costly and need good expertise. Nevertheless, numerous biochemical- and molecular-based techniques are available for the detection of plant diseases, but their efficacy is constrained by differences in their accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, dependability, and speed in addition to being unsuitable for direct on-field studies. Considering the effect of Alternaria on medicinal plants, the development of novel and early detection measures is required to detect causal Alternaria species accurately, sensitively, and rapidly that can be further applied in fields to speed up the advancement process in detection strategies. In this regard, nanotechnology can be employed to develop portable biosensors suitable for early and correct pathogenic disease detection on the field. It also provides an efficient future scope to convert innovative nanoparticle-derived fabricated biomolecules and biosensor approaches in the diagnostics of disease-causing pathogens in important medicinal plants. In this review, we summarize the traditional methods, including immunological and molecular methods, utilized in plant-disease diagnostics. We also brief advanced automobile and efficient sensing technologies for diagnostics. Here we are proposing an idea with a focus on the development of electrochemical and/or colorimetric properties-based nano-biosensors that could be useful in the early detection of Alternaria and other plant pathogens in important medicinal plants. In addition, we discuss challenges faced during the fabrication of biosensors and new capabilities of the technology that provide information regarding disease management strategies.

A review of rapid food safety testing: using lateral flow assay platform to detect foodborne pathogens

The detrimental impact of foodborne pathogens on human health makes food safety a major concern at all levels of production. Conventional methods to detect foodborne pathogens, such as live culture, high-performance liquid chromatography, and molecular techniques, are relatively tedious, time-consuming, laborious, and expensive, which hinders their use for on-site applications. Recurrent outbreaks of foodborne illness have heightened the demand for rapid and simple technologies for detection of foodborne pathogens. Recently, Lateral flow assays (LFA) have drawn attention because of their ability to detect pathogens rapidly, cheaply, and on-site. Here, we reviewed the latest developments in LFAs to detect various foodborne pathogens in food samples, giving special attention to how reporters and labels have improved LFA performance. We also discussed different approaches to improve LFA sensitivity and specificity. Most importantly, due to the lack of studies on LFAs for the detection of viral foodborne pathogens in food samples, we summarized our recent research on developing LFAs for the detection of viral foodborne pathogens. Finally, we highlighted the main challenges for further development of LFA platforms. In summary, with continuing improvements, LFAs may soon offer excellent performance at point-of-care that is competitive with laboratory techniques while retaining a rapid format.

Biosensor Technologies for Early Detection and Quantification of Plant Pathogens

Plant pathogens are a major reason of reduced crop productivity and may lead to a shortage of food for both human and animal consumption. Although chemical control remains the main method to reduce foliar fungal disease incidence, frequent use can lead to loss of susceptibility in the fungal population. Furthermore, over-spraying can cause environmental contamination and poses a heavy financial burden on growers. To prevent or control disease epidemics, it is important for growers to be able to detect causal pathogen accurately, sensitively, and rapidly, so that the best practice disease management strategies can be chosen and enacted. To reach this goal, many culture-dependent, biochemical, and molecular methods have been developed for plant pathogen detection. However, these methods lack accuracy, specificity, reliability, and rapidity, and they are generally not suitable for in-situ analysis. Accordingly, there is strong interest in developing biosensing systems for early and accurate pathogen detection. There is also great scope to translate innovative nanoparticle-based biosensor approaches developed initially for human disease diagnostics for early detection of plant disease-causing pathogens. In this review, we compare conventional methods used in plant disease diagnostics with new sensing technologies in particular with deeper focus on electrochemical and optical biosensors that may be applied for plant pathogen detection and management. In addition, we discuss challenges facing biosensors and new capability the technology provides to informing disease management strategies.

16S rRNA Monitoring Point-of-Care Magnetic Focus Lateral Flow Sensor

The detection and profiling of pathogenic bacteria is critical for human health, environmental, and food safety monitoring. Herein, we propose a highly sensitive colorimetric strategy for naked eye screening of 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) from pathogenic agents relevant to infections, human health, and food safety monitoring with a magnetic focus lateral flow sensor (mLFS) platform. The method developed was demonstrated in model 16S rRNA sequences of the pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 to detect as low as 1 fM of targets, exhibiting a sensitivity improved by ∼5 × 10⁵ times compared to the conventional GNP-based colorimetric lateral flow assay used for oligonucleotide testing. Based on the grayscale values, semi-quantitation of up to 1 pM of target sequences was possible in ∼45 min. The methodology could detect the target 16S rRNA from as low as 32 pg/mL of total RNA extracted from pathogens. Specificity was demonstrated with total RNA extracted from E. coli K-12 MG1655, Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). No signal was observed from as high as 320 pg/mL of total RNA from the nontarget bacteria. The recognition of target 16S rRNA from 32 pg/mL of total RNA in complex matrices was also demonstrated. The proposed mLFS method was then extended to monitoring B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa. Our approach highlights the possibility of extending this concept to screen specific nucleic acid sequences for the monitoring of infectious pathogens or microbiome implicated in a range of diseases including cancer.

Aptamer-based approaches for the detection of waterborne pathogens

Waterborne ailments pose a serious threat to public health and are a huge economic burden. Lack of hygiene in drinking and recreational water is the chief source of microbial pathogens in developing countries. Poor water quality and sanitation account for more than 3.4 million deaths a year worldwide. This has urged authorities and researchers to explore different avenues of pathogen detection. There is a growing demand for rapid and reliable sensor technologies, in particular those that can detect in situ and perform in harsh conditions. Some of the major waterborne pathogens include Vibrio cholerae, Leptospira interrogans, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella spp., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Clostridium difficile, Cryptosporidium parvum, Entamoeba histolytica, and Hepatitis A virus. While conventional methods of pathogen detection like serodiagnosis and microbiological methods have been superseded by nucleic acid amplification methods, there is still potential for improvement. This review provides an insight into aptamers and their utility in the form of aptasensors. It discusses how aptamer-based approaches have emerged as a novel strategy and its advantages over more resource-intensive and complex biochemical approaches.

16S rRNA-functionalized multi-HCR concatemers in a signal amplification nanostructure for visual detection of Salmonella

To prevent foodborne diseases and minimize their impacts, it is extremely important to develop a cost-effective and efficient bacterial detection assay for diagnostics, particularly in resource-poor settings. In this study, 16S rRNA from foodborne Salmonella was coupled with multiple HCR (hybridization chain reaction) concatemers and functionalized in a signal structure for lateral flow nucleic acid biosensor (LFNAB) detection. The 16S rRNA was incubated with two specific capture probes and multiple helper probes carrying the same initiator, to unwind its secondary structure and form an "initiators-on-a-string" complex. Through use of the initiators, each target 16S rRNA yielded multiple HCR concatemers tethered to numerous biotins, and numerous streptavidin-labeled gold nanoparticles were introduced on the LFNAB. The limit of detection was 53.65 CFU/mL for Salmonella. Notably, this method has high specificity and applicability for the detection of Salmonella in food and water samples.

Development of a Gold Nanoparticle-Based Lateral-Flow Immunoassay for Pneumocystis Pneumonia Serological Diagnosis at Point-of-Care

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PcP) is a major human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related illness, rising among immunocompromised non-HIV patients and in developing countries. Presently, the diagnosis requires respiratory specimens obtained through invasive and costly techniques that are difficult to perform in all patients or implement in all economic settings. Therefore, the development of a faster, cost-effective, non-invasive and field-friendly test to diagnose PcP would be a significant advance. In this study, recombinant synthetic antigens (RSA) of P. jirovecii's major surface glycoprotein (Msg) and kexin-like serine protease (Kex1) were produced and purified. These RSA were applied as antigenic tools in immunoenzymatic assays for detection of specific anti-P. jirovecii antibodies (IgG and IgM) in sera of patients with (n = 48) and without (n = 28) PcP. Results showed that only IgM anti-P. jirovecii levels were significantly increased in patients with PcP compared with patients without P. jirovecii infection (p ≤ 0.001 with both RSA). Thus, two strip lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA), based on the detection of specific IgM anti-P. jirovecii antibodies in human sera samples, were developed using the innovative association of P. jirovecii's RSA with spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). For that, alkanethiol-functionalized spherical AuNPs with ca. ~40 nm in diameter were synthetized and conjugated with the two RSA (Msg or Kex1) produced. These AuNP-RSA conjugates were characterized by agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and optimized to improve their ability to interact specifically with serum IgM anti-P. jirovecii antibodies. Finally, two LFIA prototypes were developed and tested with pools of sera from patients with (positive sample) and without (negative sample) PcP. Both LFIA had the expected performance, namely, the presence of a test and control red colored lines with the positive sample, and only a control red colored line with the negative sample. These results provide valuable insights into the possibility of PcP serodiagnosis at point-of-care. The optimization, validation and implementation of this strip-based approach may help to reduce the high cost of medical diagnosis and subsequent treatment of PcP both in industrialized and low-income regions, helping to manage the disease all around the world.

Lateral flow biosensors based on the use of micro- and nanomaterials: a review on recent developments

This review (with 187 refs.) summarizes the progress that has been made in the design of lateral flow biosensors (LFBs) based on the use of micro- and nano-materials. Following a short introduction into the field, a first section covers features related to the design of LFBs, with subsections on strip-based, cotton thread-based and vertical flow- and syringe-based LFBs. The next chapter summarizes methods for sample pretreatment, from simple method to membrane-based methods, pretreatment by magnetic methods to device-integrated sample preparation. Advances in flow control are treated next, with subsections on cross-flow strategies, delayed and controlled release and various other strategies. Detection conditionst and mathematical modelling are briefly introduced in the following chapter. A further chapter covers methods for reliability improvement, for example by adding other validation lines or adopting different detection methods. Signal readouts are summarized next, with subsections on color-based, luminescent, smartphone-based and SERS-based methods. A concluding section summarizes the current status and addresses challenges in future perspectives. Graphical abstractRecent development and breakthrough points of lateral flow biosensors.

A sample-to-answer, portable platform for rapid detection of pathogens with a smartphone interface

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases pose global threats to human health. Although several conventional diagnostic methods have been widely adopted in the clinic, the long turn-around times of "gold standard" culture-based techniques, as well as the limited sensitivity of lateral-flow strip assays, thwart medical progress. In this study, a smartphone-controlled, automated, and portable system was developed for rapid molecular diagnosis of pathogens (including viruses and bacteria) via the use of a colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) approach on a passive, self-driven microfluidic device. The system was capable of 1) purifying viral or bacterial samples with specific affinity reagents that had been pre-conjugated to magnetic beads, 2) lysing pathogens at low temperatures, 3) executing isothermal nucleic acid amplification, and 4) quantifying the results of colorimetric assays for detection of pathogens with an integrated color sensor. The entire, 40 min analytical process was automatically performed with a novel punching-press mechanism that could be controlled and monitored by a smartphone. As a proof of concept, the influenza A (H1N1) virus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were used to characterize and optimize the device, and the limits of detection were experimentally found to be 3.2 × 10^-3 hemagglutinating units (HAU) per reaction and 30 colony-forming units (CFU) per reaction, respectively; both such values represent high enough sensitivity for clinical adoption. Moreover, the colorimetric assay could be both qualitative and quantitative for detection of pathogens. This is the first instance of an easy-to-use, automated, and portable system for accurate and sensitive molecular diagnosis of either viruses or bacteria, and it is envisioned that this smartphone-controlled apparatus may serve as a platform for clinical, point-of-care pathogen detection, particularly in resource-limited settings.

Point-of-Care Strategies for Detection of Waterborne Pathogens

Waterborne diseases that originated due to pathogen microorganisms are emerging as a serious global health concern. Therefore, rapid, accurate, and specific detection of these microorganisms (i.e., bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasitic pathogens) in water resources has become a requirement of water quality assessment. Significant research has been conducted to develop rapid, efficient, scalable, and affordable sensing techniques to detect biological contaminants. State-of-the-art technology-assisted smart sensors have improved features (high sensitivity and very low detection limit) and can perform in a real-time manner. However, there is still a need to promote this area of research, keeping global aspects and demand in mind. Keeping this view, this article was designed carefully and critically to explore sensing technologies developed for the detection of biological contaminants. Advancements using paper-based assays, microfluidic platforms, and lateral flow devices are discussed in this report. The emerging recent trends, mainly point-of-care (POC) technologies, of water safety analysis are also discussed here, along with challenges and future prospective applications of these smart sensing technologies for water health diagnostics.

Advanced Diagnostic Approaches for Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens of Temperate Legumes With a Focus on Botrytis spp

Plant pathogens reduce global crop productivity by up to 40% per annum, causing enormous economic loss and potential environmental effects from chemical management practices. Thus, early diagnosis and quantitation of the causal pathogen species for accurate and timely disease control is crucial. Botrytis Gray Mold (BGM), caused by Botrytis cinerea and B. fabae, can seriously impact production of temperate grain legumes separately or within a complex. Accordingly, several immunogenic and molecular probe-type protocols have been developed for their diagnosis, but these have varying levels of species-specificity, sensitivity and consequent usefulness within the paddock. To substantially improve speed, accuracy and sensitivity, advanced nanoparticle-based biosensor approaches have been developed. These novel methods have made enormous impact toward disease diagnosis in the medical sciences and offer potential for transformational change within the field of plant pathology and disease management, with early and accurate diagnosis at the point-of-care in the field. Here we review several recently developed diagnostic tools that build on traditional approaches and are available for pathogen diagnosis, specifically for Botrytis spp. diagnostic applications. We then identify the specific gaps in knowledge and current limitations to these existing tools.

Point-of-care detection of 16S rRNA of Staphylococcus aureus based on multiple biotin-labeled DNA probes

A visual method that combines multiple biotin-labeled DNA probes and lateral-flow nucleic acid biosensor was developed to detect Staphylococcus aureus. The 16S rRNA from Staphyloccocus aureus (S. aureus), coupled with multiple biotin-labeled DNA probes, was functionalized in a signal structure for lateral-flow point-of-care detection. The secondary structure of the 16S rRNA was unwound by two specific capture probes modified by Fam and multiple bridge probes, which extended additional sequences for use as initiators. By utilizing the initiators, each target 16S rRNA with multiple DNA probes could tether a number of biotin molecules, so that a large number of streptavidin-labeled gold nanoparticles could be introduced in the lateral flow assay. The images of the lateral flow detection results obtained using a smartphone were transmitted to a computer via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection for quantitative processing by ImageJ. The limit of detection was 10³ cfu/mL without sample enrichment, and decreased to 0.12 cfu/mL following a 3-h enrichment of samples in growth medium. Notably, this method presented high specificity and applicability for the detection of S. aureus in food samples. In short, the developed visual non-specific operation method is very suitable for point-of-care diagnosis of pathogens in resource-limited countries.

The coupling of immunomagnetic enrichment of bacteria with paper-based platform

In this study, the coupling of magnetic enrichment of bacteria from real samples with rapid surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection was reported. The selective isolation and enrichment for the model bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) was performed using E. coli (primary) antibody bound-magnetic gold (Fe₃O₄@Au) nanoparticles. Following isolation and enrichment, the rennet enzyme was used to cleave of casein modified Fe₃O₄/Au-PEI nanoparticles from primary antibody-bound bacteria to prevent the nanoparticle aggregation and provide the movement of bacteria on nitrocellulose membrane. In the first part of the study, optimization studies were carried out namely; the amounts of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), polyethyleneimine coated magnetic gold (Fe₃O₄/Au-PEI) nanoparticles, casein and rennet enzyme. The SERS signals of DTNB (5,5'-Dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid)) molecule were collected on the test line and a calibration curve was plotted by using signal intensities. The correlation between the concentration of E. coli and SERS signal was found to be linear within the range of 10¹-10⁷ cfu/mL (R² = 0.984, LOD = 0.52 cfu/mL and LOQ = 1.57 cfu/mL). The selectivity of the paper-based lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) was examined with Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), Micrococcus luteus (M. luteus), Salmonella enteritidis (S. enteritidis) which did not produce any significant response compared with E. coli measurement. Finally, the developed paper-based LFIA was tested with urine and milk samples. The obtained SERS results were compared with a plate counting method results which were in a good accordance. The developed method was found as rapid and sensitive to E. coli with a total analysis time of less than 60 min.

Label-Free Pathogen Detection by a Deoxyribozyme Cascade with Visual Signal Readout

A colorimetric nucleic acid based test for label-free pathogen detection has been developed and used for the detection of the Zika virus. The test relies on nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) of a viral RNA followed by interrogation of the amplicon by a cascade of deoxyribozymes constituting a visual split deoxyribozyme (vsDz) probe. The probe consists of a split phosphodiesterase deoxyribozyme, which forms its catalytic core upon binding to a specific amplicon fragment. The catalytically active complex recognizes and cleaves an inhibited peroxidase-like deoxyribozyme (PDz), thereby activating it. Active PDz catalyzes hydrogen peroxide-mediated oxidation of a colorless substrate into a colored product, thereby generating a visible signal. Viral RNA (106 copies/mL or higher) triggers intense color within 2 hr. The test selectively differentiates between Zika and closely related dengue and West Nile viruses. The reported technology combines isothermal amplification and visual detection and therefore represents a basis for the future development of a cost-efficient and instrument-free method for point-of-care nucleic acid analysis.

Simple lateral flow assays for microbial detection in stool

Diarrheal diseases claim the lives of 1300 children daily, mostly in the developing world. We have developed a simple lateral flow assay capable of detecting E. coli and EPEC DNA and RNA rapidly (<15 minutes) at the point-of-need, directly from stool without nucleic acid extraction or molecular amplification. The limit of detection of the method is 1 nM using synthetic DNA target substrates spiked into stool. However, due to the endogenous amplification of the 23S rRNA targets, we were able to detect the endogenous EPEC in pea-sized (5 mg) stool without labor-intensive and time-consuming nucleic acid purification or target amplification using enzymes. The significance of this method is that it is rapid (<15 minutes) and simple (without nucleic acid purification or molecular amplification) and does not require instrumentation, or access to a laboratory, cold chain or electric power. Thus, it is well-suited for point-of-need use in remote and/or resource-limited settings in the developing world where the mortality due to diarrheal diseases is especially high. The rapid testing of stool pathogens in real time at the point-of-need will decrease the loss of patients to follow-up, and enable patients to be treated earlier with the appropriate therapeutics in both the developed and developing world settings.

Point-of-care microfluidic devices for pathogen detection

The rapid diagnosis of pathogens is crucial in the early stages of treatment of diseases where the choice of the correct drug can be critical. Although conventional cell culture-based techniques have been widely utilized in clinical applications, newly introduced optical-based, microfluidic chips are becoming attractive. The advantages of the novel methods compared to the conventional techniques comprise more rapid diagnosis, lower consumption of patient sample and valuable reagents, easy application, and high reproducibility in the detection of pathogens. The miniaturized channels used in microfluidic systems simulate interactions between cells and reagents in microchannel structures, and evaluate the interactions between biological moieties to enable diagnosis of microorganisms. The overarching goal of this review is to provide a summary of the development of microfluidic biochips and to comprehensively discuss different applications of microfluidic biochips in the detection of pathogens. New types of microfluidic systems and novel techniques for viral pathogen detection (e.g. HIV, HVB, ZIKV) are covered. Next generation techniques relying on high sensitivity, specificity, lower consumption of precious reagents, suggest that rapid generation of results can be achieved via optical based detection of bacterial cells. The introduction of smartphones to replace microscope based observation has substantially improved cell detection, and allows facile data processing and transfer for presentation purposes.

Paper-based lateral flow strip assay for the detection of foodborne pathogens: principles, applications, technological challenges and opportunities

As a representative colorimetic biosnesor, paper-based LFSA have emerged as a promising and robust tool that can easily and instansly detect the presence of target biological components in food sample. Recently, LFSAs have gained a considerable attention as an alternative method for rapid diagnosis of foodborne pathogens to the conventional culture-based assays such as plate counting and PCR. One major drawback of the current LFSAs for the detection of pathogenic bacteria is the low sensitivity, limiting its practical applications in POCT. Not like many other protein-based biomarkers that are present in nM or pM range, the number of pathogenic bacteria that cause disease can be as low as few CFU/ml. Here, we review current advances in LFSAs for the detection of pathogenic bacteria in terms of chromatic agents and analyte types. Furthermore, recent approaches for signal enhancement and modifications of the LFSA architecture for multiplex detection of pathogenic bacteria are included in this review, together with the advantages and limitations of each techniques. Finally, the technological challenges and future prospect of LFSA-based POCT for the detection of pathogenic bacteria are discussed.

Biosensors for rapid and sensitive detection of Staphylococcus aureus in food

Foodborne illness outbreaks caused by the consumption of food contaminated with harmful bacteria has drastically increased in the past decades. Therefore, detection of harmful bacteria in the food has become an important factor for the recognition and prevention of problems associated with food safety and public health. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most commonly isolated foodborne pathogen and it is considered as a major cause of foodborne illnesses worldwide. A number of different methods have been developed for the detection and identification of S. aureus in food samples. However, some of these methods are laborious and time-consuming and are not suitable for on-site applications. Therefore, it is highly important to develop rapid and more approachable detection methods. In the last decade, biosensors have gained popularity as an attractive alternative method and now considered as one of most rapid and on-site applicable methods. An overview of the biosensor based methods used for the detection of S. aureus is presented herein. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art biosensor methods towards the detection and quantification of S. aureus, and discusses the most commonly used biosensor methods based on the transducing mode, such as electrochemical, optical, and mass-based biosensors.

Recent advances in nanoparticle-based lateral flow immunoassay as a point-of-care diagnostic tool for infectious agents and diseases

Recent advances in lateral flow immunoassay-based devices as a point-of-care analytical tool for the detection of infectious diseases are reviewed.

Advanced Nanobiomaterials: Vaccines, Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases

The use of nanoparticles has contributed to many advances due to their important properties such as, size, shape or biocompatibility. The use of nanotechnology in medicine has great potential, especially in medical microbiology. Promising data show the possibility of shaping immune responses and fighting severe infections using synthetic materials. Different studies have suggested that the addition of synthetic nanoparticles in vaccines and immunotherapy will have a great impact on public health. On the other hand, antibiotic resistance is one of the major concerns worldwide; a recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO) states that antibiotic resistance could cause 300 million deaths by 2050. Nanomedicine offers an innovative tool for combating the high rates of resistance that we are fighting nowadays, by the development of both alternative therapeutic and prophylaxis approaches and also novel diagnosis methods. Early detection of infectious diseases is the key to a successful treatment and the new developed applications based on nanotechnology offer an increased sensibility and efficiency of the diagnosis. The aim of this review is to reveal and discuss the main advances made on the science of nanomaterials for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Highlighting innovative approaches utilized to: (i) increasing the efficiency of vaccines; (ii) obtaining shuttle systems that require lower antibiotic concentrations; (iii) developing coating devices that inhibit microbial colonization and biofilm formation.

Ultrasensitive detection of microbial cells using magnetic focus enhanced lateral flow sensors

We report on an improved lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) sensor with a magnetic focus for ultrasensitive naked-eye detection of pathogenic microorganisms at a near single cell limit without any pre-enrichment steps, by allowing the magnetic probes to focus the labelled pathogens to the target zone of the LF strip.

An integrated paper-based sample-to-answer biosensor for nucleic acid testing at the point of care

With advances in point-of-care testing (POCT), lateral flow assays (LFAs) have been explored for nucleic acid detection. However, biological samples generally contain complex compositions and low amounts of target nucleic acids, and currently require laborious off-chip nucleic acid extraction and amplification processes (e.g., tube-based extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)) prior to detection. To the best of our knowledge, even though the integration of DNA extraction and amplification into a paper-based biosensor has been reported, a combination of LFA with the aforementioned steps for simple colorimetric readout has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we demonstrate for the first time an integrated paper-based biosensor incorporating nucleic acid extraction, amplification and visual detection or quantification using a smartphone. A handheld battery-powered heating device was specially developed for nucleic acid amplification in POC settings, which is coupled with this simple assay for rapid target detection. The biosensor can successfully detect Escherichia coli (as a model analyte) in spiked drinking water, milk, blood, and spinach with a detection limit of as low as 10-1000 CFU mL(-1), and Streptococcus pneumonia in clinical blood samples, highlighting its potential use in medical diagnostics, food safety analysis and environmental monitoring. As compared to the lengthy conventional assay, which requires more than 5 hours for the entire sample-to-answer process, it takes about 1 hour for our integrated biosensor. The integrated biosensor holds great potential for detection of various target analytes for wide applications in the near future.

Parallel, open-channel lateral flow (immuno) assay substrate based on capillary-channeled polymer films

Presented here is a novel implementation of polypropylene capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) films, functionalized for bioaffinity separations and implemented as a platform for lateral flow (immuno) assays.

A hydrogel based rapid test method for detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in contaminated water samples

We have formulated a new chemical composition for rapid detection ofEscherichia coli(E. coli) with currently available enzymatic substrates.

An integrated direct loop-mediated isothermal amplification microdevice incorporated with an immunochromatographic strip for bacteria detection in human whole blood and milk without a sample preparation step

We have developed an integrated direct loop-mediated isothermal amplification (Direct LAMP) microdevice incorporated with an immunochromatographic strip (ICS) to identify bacteria contaminated in real samples. The Direct LAMP is a novel isothermal DNA amplification technique which does not require thermal cycling steps as well as any sample preparation steps such as cell lysis and DNA extraction for amplifying specific target genes. In addition, the resultant amplicons were colorimetrically detected on the ICS, thereby enabling the entire genetic analysis process to be simplified. The two functional units (Direct LAMP and ICS) were integrated on a single device without use of the tedious and complicated microvalve and tubing systems. The utilization of a slidable plate allows us to manipulate the fluidic control in the microchannels manually and the sequential operation of the Direct LAMP and ICS detection could be performed by switching the slidable plate to each functional unit. Thus, the combination of the direct isothermal amplification without any sample preparation and thermal cycling steps, the ICS based amplicon detection by naked eyes, and the slidable plate to eliminate the microvalves in the integrated microdevice would be an ideal platform for point-of-care DNA diaganotics. On the integrated Direct LAMP-ICS microdevice, we could analyze Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) contaminated in human whole blood or milk at a single-cell level within 1h.

Optical Biosensors for the Detection of Pathogenic Microorganisms

Pathogenic microorganisms are causative agents of various infectious diseases that are becoming increasingly serious worldwide. For the successful treatment of pathogenic infection, the rapid and accurate detection of multiple pathogenic microorganisms is of great importance in all areas related to health and safety. Among various sensor systems, optical biosensors allow easy-to-use, rapid, portable, multiplexed, and cost-effective diagnosis. Here, we review current trends and advances in pathogen-diagnostic optical biosensors. The technological and methodological approaches underlying diverse optical-sensing platforms and methods for detecting pathogenic microorganisms are reviewed, together with the strengths and drawbacks of each technique. Finally, challenges in developing efficient optical biosensor systems and future perspectives are discussed.

Development of a dry-reagent-based nucleic acid-sensing platform by coupling thermostabilised LATE-PCR assay to an oligonucleotide-modified lateral flow biosensor

In this study, we report for the first time the development of a dry-reagent-based nucleic acid-sensing platform by combining a thermostabilised linear-after-the-exponential (LATE)-PCR assay with a one-step, hybridisation-based nucleic acid lateral flow biosensor. The nucleic acid-sensing platform was designed to overcome the need for stringent temperature control during transportation or storage of reagents and reduces the dependency on skilled personnel by decreasing the overall assay complexity and hands-on time. The platform was developed using toxigenic Vibrio cholerae as the model organism due to the bacterium's propensity to cause epidemic and pandemic cholera. The biosensor generates result which can be visualised with the naked eyes and the limit of detection was found to be 1pg of pure genomic DNA and 10CFU/ml of toxigenic V. cholerae. The dry-reagent-based nucleic acid-sensing platform was challenged with 95 toxigenic V. cholerae, 7 non-toxigenic V. cholerae and 66 other bacterial strains in spiked stool sample and complete agreement was observed when the results were compared to that of monosialoganglioside (GM1)-ELISA. Heat-stability of the thermostabilised LATE-PCR reaction mixes at different storage temperatures (4-56°C) was investigated for up to 90days. The dry-reagent-based genosensing platform with ready-to-use assay components provides an alternative method for sequence-specific detection of nucleic acid without any cold chain restriction that is associated with conventional molecular amplification techniques.

Gold magnetic nanoparticle conjugate-based lateral flow assay for the detection of IgM class antibodies related to TORCH infections

In this study, a lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA) system for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, related to TORCH [(T)oxoplasmosis, (O)ther agents, (R)ubella (also known as German Measles), (C)ytomegalovirus, and (H)erpes simplex virus infections], based on gold magnetic nanoparticles, was established. Following modification with poly(methacrylic acid), the gold magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with an anti‑human IgM antibody (μ‑chain specific) to construct a probe. A lateral flow assay device was constructed based on these conjugates. IgM antibodies to four types of pathogens, notably toxoplasmosis, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus type 2, were detected using this device. Compared with commercial colloidal gold‑based LFIA strips, our method exhibited higher sensitivity. No interference with triglycerides, hemoglobin and bilirubin occurred, and no cross‑reactivity was noted among the four pathogens. The gold magnetic nanoparticle‑LFIA strips were used to assess 41 seropositive and 121 seronegative serum samples. The sensitivity was 100% (162/162) and the specificity was 100% (162/162). This method cannot only be used for the detection of TORCH IgM-specific antibodies, but it can potentially be developed for use in the diagnosis of other acute or recently identified autoimmune diseases.