Biphasic Dried Blood Microarray for Rapid Pathogen Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current diagnostic techniques for detecting low concentration pathogens in fluid samples are time-consuming, costly, and lack sensitivity, often requiring multiple tests and extensive sample processing, which can lead to misdiagnoses and antibiotic overuse, particularly in conditions like sepsis where rapid detection is critical.
Innovation Solution
The development of systems and methods that dry fluid samples into microarray configurations, allowing for nucleic acid detection and amplification directly from the dried samples using a bi-phasic reaction, enabling rapid and sensitive detection of multiple pathogens in a single assay without the need for extensive sample processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional nucleic acid amplification techniques are used, then pathogen detection sensitivity is improved, but testing time increases to days or weeks
Solution Approach 1:
The sample is dried and prepared in advance before the amplification reaction, allowing the actual detection to occur rapidly once reagents are added. The drying step concentrates the sample and removes inhibitors, preparing it for immediate analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the sample from liquid to dried solid phase, which concentrates the pathogen nucleic acids and eliminates liquid-phase inhibitors that would slow amplification. This parameter change enables rapid detection within hours rather than days.
2Measurement precision
If multiple pathogen tests are performed sequentially, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple pathogen detection assays are combined into a single multiplexed test that can identify several pathogens simultaneously from one sample. This merging of functions reduces the number of separate tests needed while maintaining high detection accuracy through parallel analysis of multiple targets.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection system is designed to universally detect multiple different pathogens using a single assay platform, eliminating the need for separate specialized tests for each pathogen. The same reagent system can target multiple nucleic acid sequences simultaneously.
3Reliability
If extensive sample processing is performed, then detection reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The essential step of extracting nucleic acids from the complex blood matrix is simplified by using the dried sample platform, which passively concentrates and presents the target molecules for direct amplification. This extraction approach maintains reliability while dramatically reducing processing complexity compared to traditional liquid-based extraction methods.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for rapid detection of pathogens in less than 45 minutes, reducing the time to diagnosis and improving accuracy by enabling the detection of low concentrations of pathogens in bodily fluids, including blood, with minimal processing, and is compatible with various sample types.
Implementation Method 1
The liquid sample is dried to generate a dried sample island
Implementation Method 2
The fluidic network facilitates diffusion of reagents and nucleic acids between liquid and solid phases
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems and methods which utilize an array of wells to rapidly detect target analytes from whole blood samples, even at very low concentrations. The provided systems and methods dry the blood sample to ensure a fluidic network forms in one or more dry blood sample islands and liquid with reagents useful for detecting nucleic acid sequences from a target analyte, including by amplification reactions that are bi-phasic because of the interaction between the solid dried blood sample phase and the liquid phases, including liquid having reagents that are able to fluidically and diffusively exchange with the fluidic network within the dried blood sample phase.