MEAM Seminar: “Manually-Operated, Slider Cassette for Multiplexed Molecular Detection at the Point of Care”

Effective control of epidemics, individualized medicine, and new drugs with virologic response-dependent dose and timing require, among other things, simple, inexpensive, multiplexed molecular detection platforms suitable for point of care and for home use. Conventional molecular detection methods such as PCR tests, require bulky and expensive equipment, trained personnel, and specialized laboratories, limiting their use to centralized facilities.

In this talk, I will describe our 3D-printed slider cassette for the co-detection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) – three blood-borne pathogens that co-infect numerous people worldwide with severe personal and public health consequences. Novel features of our cassette include the integration of sample processing; nucleic acid isolation and concentration, isothermal amplification, minimally instrumented and instrument free detection; refrigeration-free storage of reagents; the ability to co-detect multiple pathogens, and minimal requirements from the user. Furthermore, the various processes in our devices can be incubated electricity-free with heat provided by an exothermic reaction and temperature control with phase change materials.