Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) remains the gold standard in disease diagnostics due to its extreme sensitivity and specificity. However, PCR tests are expensive and complex, require skilled personnel and specialized equipment to conduct the tests, and have long turnaround times. On the other hand,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.852083/full |
| _version_ | 1819060600722948096 |
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| author | Joseph Walish Jason Cox Jeremy Boone Jennifer Stone Nathan Henderson Molly Maloney Joe Ma Jonathan Maa Nghiem On Konrad Petre Bruce G. Goodwin Shanmuga Sozhamannan Shanmuga Sozhamannan Robert Deans |
| author_facet | Joseph Walish Jason Cox Jeremy Boone Jennifer Stone Nathan Henderson Molly Maloney Joe Ma Jonathan Maa Nghiem On Konrad Petre Bruce G. Goodwin Shanmuga Sozhamannan Shanmuga Sozhamannan Robert Deans |
| author_sort | Joseph Walish |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) remains the gold standard in disease diagnostics due to its extreme sensitivity and specificity. However, PCR tests are expensive and complex, require skilled personnel and specialized equipment to conduct the tests, and have long turnaround times. On the other hand, lateral flow immunoassay-based antigen tests are rapid, relatively inexpensive, and can be performed by untrained personnel at the point of care or even in the home. However, rapid antigen tests are less sensitive than PCR since they lack the inherent target amplification of PCR. It has been argued that rapid antigen tests are better indicators of infection in public health decision-making processes to test, trace, and isolate infected people to curtail further transmission. Hence, there is a critical need to increase the sensitivity of rapid antigen tests and create innovative solutions to achieve that goal. Herein, we report the development of a low-cost diagnostic platform, enabling rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 under field or at-home conditions. This platform (Halo™) is a small, highly accurate, consumer-friendly diagnostic reader paired with fluorescently labeled lateral flow assays and custom software for collection and reporting of results. The focus of this study is to compare the analytical performance of HaloTM against comparable tests that use either colloidal gold nanoparticles or fluorescence-based reporters in simulated nasal matrix and not in clinical samples. Live virus data has demonstrated limit of detection performance of 1.9 TCID50/test in simulated nasal matrix for the delta variant, suggesting that single-assay detection of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections may be feasible. Performance of the system against all tested SARS CoV-2 virus variants showed comparable sensitivities indicating mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants do not negatively impact the assay. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:29:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f9e2b5cbb3e247f7984e11167fd07ce6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:29:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-f9e2b5cbb3e247f7984e11167fd07ce62022-12-21T19:00:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652022-04-011010.3389/fpubh.2022.852083852083Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 AssaysJoseph Walish0Jason Cox1Jeremy Boone2Jennifer Stone3Nathan Henderson4Molly Maloney5Joe Ma6Jonathan Maa7Nghiem On8Konrad Petre9Bruce G. Goodwin10Shanmuga Sozhamannan11Shanmuga Sozhamannan12Robert Deans13C2Sense, Inc., Watertown, MA, United StatesC2Sense, Inc., Watertown, MA, United StatesMRIGlobal, Kansas City, MO, United StatesMRIGlobal, Kansas City, MO, United StatesMRIGlobal, Kansas City, MO, United StatesMRIGlobal, Kansas City, MO, United StatesMaxim Biomedical, Inc., Rockville, MD, United StatesMaxim Biomedical, Inc., Rockville, MD, United StatesMaxim Biomedical, Inc., Rockville, MD, United StatesMaxim Biomedical, Inc., Rockville, MD, United StatesJoint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), Joint Project Lead for CBRND Enabling Biotechnologies (JPL CBRND EB), Frederick, MD, United StatesJoint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), Joint Project Lead for CBRND Enabling Biotechnologies (JPL CBRND EB), Frederick, MD, United StatesLogistics Management Institute, Tysons, VA, United StatesC2Sense, Inc., Watertown, MA, United StatesPolymerase chain reaction (PCR) remains the gold standard in disease diagnostics due to its extreme sensitivity and specificity. However, PCR tests are expensive and complex, require skilled personnel and specialized equipment to conduct the tests, and have long turnaround times. On the other hand, lateral flow immunoassay-based antigen tests are rapid, relatively inexpensive, and can be performed by untrained personnel at the point of care or even in the home. However, rapid antigen tests are less sensitive than PCR since they lack the inherent target amplification of PCR. It has been argued that rapid antigen tests are better indicators of infection in public health decision-making processes to test, trace, and isolate infected people to curtail further transmission. Hence, there is a critical need to increase the sensitivity of rapid antigen tests and create innovative solutions to achieve that goal. Herein, we report the development of a low-cost diagnostic platform, enabling rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 under field or at-home conditions. This platform (Halo™) is a small, highly accurate, consumer-friendly diagnostic reader paired with fluorescently labeled lateral flow assays and custom software for collection and reporting of results. The focus of this study is to compare the analytical performance of HaloTM against comparable tests that use either colloidal gold nanoparticles or fluorescence-based reporters in simulated nasal matrix and not in clinical samples. Live virus data has demonstrated limit of detection performance of 1.9 TCID50/test in simulated nasal matrix for the delta variant, suggesting that single-assay detection of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections may be feasible. Performance of the system against all tested SARS CoV-2 virus variants showed comparable sensitivities indicating mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants do not negatively impact the assay.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.852083/fullSARS-CoV-2diagnosticsrapid antigen testimmunoassayfluorescenceeuropium |
| spellingShingle | Joseph Walish Jason Cox Jeremy Boone Jennifer Stone Nathan Henderson Molly Maloney Joe Ma Jonathan Maa Nghiem On Konrad Petre Bruce G. Goodwin Shanmuga Sozhamannan Shanmuga Sozhamannan Robert Deans Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays Frontiers in Public Health SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics rapid antigen test immunoassay fluorescence europium |
| title | Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays |
| title_full | Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays |
| title_fullStr | Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays |
| title_full_unstemmed | Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays |
| title_short | Halo—A Universal Fluorescence Reader Based Threat Agent Detection Platform—A Proof of Concept Study Using SARS-CoV-2 Assays |
| title_sort | halo a universal fluorescence reader based threat agent detection platform a proof of concept study using sars cov 2 assays |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics rapid antigen test immunoassay fluorescence europium |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.852083/full |
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