Engineering At-Home Dilution and Filtration Methods to Enable Paper-Based Colorimetric Biosensing in Human Blood with Cell-Free Protein Synthesis

Diagnostic blood tests can guide the administration of healthcare to save and improve lives. Most clinical biosensing blood tests require a trained technician and specialized equipment to process samples and interpret results, which greatly limits test accessibility. Colorimetric paper-based diagnos...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tyler J. Free, Ryan W. Tucker, Katelyn M. Simonson, Sydney A. Smith, Caleb M. Lindgren, William G. Pitt, Bradley C. Bundy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Biosensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/13/1/104
Description
Summary:Diagnostic blood tests can guide the administration of healthcare to save and improve lives. Most clinical biosensing blood tests require a trained technician and specialized equipment to process samples and interpret results, which greatly limits test accessibility. Colorimetric paper-based diagnostics have an equipment-free readout, but raw blood obscures a colorimetric response which has motivated diverse efforts to develop blood sample processing techniques. This work uses inexpensive readily-available materials to engineer user-friendly dilution and filtration methods for blood sample collection and processing to enable a proof-of-concept colorimetric biosensor that is responsive to glutamine in 50 µL blood drop samples in less than 30 min. Paper-based user-friendly blood sample collection and processing combined with CFPS biosensing technology represents important progress towards the development of at-home biosensors that could be broadly applicable to personalized healthcare.
ISSN:2079-6374