Browsing by Subject "Paper device"

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    Development of the "NoSlip": a simple yet sophisticated paper analytical device for detection of proteins
    (2016-05) Cunningham, Josephine Carol; Crooks, Richard M. (Richard McConnell); Ellington, Andy; Richards, Ian; Anslyn, Eric; Hoffman, David
    The two most successful commercial sensors in self-diagnostics are the pregnancy test and the blood glucose meter. Our opinion is that too much time has gone by without successful commercialization of more consumer operated sensors, despite there being a significant market opportunity. For that reason, we put together a team in 2012 with the objective to develop a sophisticated sensor that could use telemedicine to revolutionize individual’s involvement in their health monitoring. We chose paper as the sensor substrate because of it’s inherently low-cost and ease of fabrication, and electrochemistry as the detection method because the necessary equipment can be miniaturized into an inexpensive handheld reader while achieving sensitive and quantitative detection. The scientific journey that we have traveled thus far while working towards our stated objective is reported here. We’ve developed three different paper-based electrochemical sensors, where each new sensor is an improved version of the former. The first is a paper-based electrochemical sensor that uses conformational switching of DNA probes or aptamers for detection of thrombin and DNA at 16 nM and 30 nM, respectively. The second paper analytical device uses a magnetic microbead supported metalloimmunoassay for electrochemical detection of a model analyte and a biological warfare agent (ricin) at 767 fM and 34 pM, respectively. The concluding device is very similar to the second but with an alternative detection strategy involving galvanic exchange that makes the device a true point-of-need sensor while still maintaining the low-cost, ease of mass production, and dynamic range that is relevant for most biological markers. We’ve come a long way but the journey continues.