Paper-Based Device Quickly Identifies Hep B Infection
A new DNA-analyzing device made of paper could help to quickly and inexpensively diagnose various conditions including hepatitis B and male infertility, according to a recent report.
While DNA analysis has become invaluable in the process of disease diagnosis, such analyses normally require expensive lab equipment and long-term analysis. These factors make the option of DNA analyses less easily available, especially to patients and healthcare workers in areas with limited resources.
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For this reason, researchers from the University of Toronto and McGill University sought to utilize new advances in nanomaterials to create a low-cost, fast, and easy device made predominantly of paper that could successfully test DNA without the use of lab equipment.
The paper-based device, which uses “ion concentration polarization at the interface of patterned nanoporous membranes in paper,” is constructed entirely from materials costing less than $1 per device.
Using the device, the researchers were able to identify the hepatitis B virus in blood serum after only 10 minutes, as well as analyze the DNA integrity of sperm (a predictor of infertility).
“Hepatitis B virus DNA targets in human serum are simultaneously preconcentrated, separated, and detected in a single 10 min operation. A limit of detection of 150 copies/mL is achieved without prior viral load amplification, sufficient for early diagnosis of hepatitis B,” they wrote.
“In all cases, agreement was 100% with respect to the clinical decision. Paper-based ion concentration polarization can provide inexpensive and accessible advanced molecular diagnostics,” they concluded.
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Gong MM, Nosrati R, Gabriel MCS, et al. Direct DNA analysis with paper-based ion concentration polarization. J. Am. Chem. Soc. October 8, 2015 [epub ahead of print]. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b08523.