Transcript
Scientists at Texas A&M and Iowa State University have developed a sensor chip that can detect many disease pathogens with 10 times the sensitivity of currently available methods. The chip produces results in about 30 minutes and eliminates the need for chemical dye reagents typically used in the diagnostic process. The new technology promises to enable rapid, low-cost point-of-care diagnostic capabilities related to diseases impacting plants, animals and humans.
The research, published in ACS Sensors, used the new sensor to detect a blight disease which threatens potato and tomato crops. This sensor improves upon a technique known as loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, which is widely used to detect pathogens by amplifying their DNA. The new LAMP chip diagnoses pathogens at high sensitivity without using expensive reagents. And it eliminates the lengthy DNA purification process that creates challenges for point-of-care use.
The new chip design consists of a nanopore thin-film sensor inside a special reaction chamber. Primers are uniquely designed to be immobilized on the nanofilm, causing amplified LAMP products to become bound to the sensor, which produces signals that can be directly and easily measured with a portable spectrometer. Consequently, the LAMP chip offers a new portable platform for detecting pathogens with ultra-sensitivity.
The research team is now working to further enhance sensitivity. In doing so, they hope to offset current challenges in detecting and distinguishing pathogen species and strains with high-sequence similarities in their DNA.
Their goal is to achieve a viable product for broad adoption in plant, animal and human health point-of-care applications.
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