About the Seminar:

Medical diagnostics account for less than 5% of total medical spending in the United States, but the resulting tests influence more than 70% of the treatment decisions and subsequent care. Further, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has underscored the need for rapid, affordable, and user-friendly diagnostic tests. While traditional laboratory diagnostics such as PCR and ELISA are both sensitive and specific, they require trained personnel, an expensive laboratory setting, and have a long time-to-result, making them generally costly and insufficient for frequent screening. True at-home, point-of-care diagnostic tests, like lateral flow assays (LFAs), are an attractive alternative due to their simplicity and rapidity; however, many commercially available LFAs are often criticized for their lower clinical sensitivity compared to traditional methods. To improve upon point-of-care diagnostics, we have developed a device that utilizes a combination of microfluidics and enzyme/substrate interactions in order to improve sensitivity, while retaining the rapid and user-friendly nature of LFAs. Our capillary-driven immunoassay (CaDI) facilitates the sequential delivery of reagents and washing steps, akin to those traditionally found in laboratory well-plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). With the use of these devices, we successfully detected the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (Nprotein) in nasal swabs, as well as the Major Outer Membrane Protein (MOMP) of C. trachomatis (chlamydia) in buffer. Our device is made of inexpensive material, and requires a simple, single step, with results that can be visually read in 15-20 minutes.