title: Sensitive biomolecule detection in lateral flow assay with a portable temperature-humidity control device.
abstract: Lateral flow assays (LFAs) have currently attracted broad interest for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, but their application has been restricted by poor quantification and limited sensitivity. While the former has been currently solved to some extent by the development of handheld or smartphone-based readers, the latter has not been addressed fully, particularly the potential influences of environmental conditions (e.g., temperature and relative humidity (RH)), which have not yet received serious attention. The present study reports the use of a portable temperature-humidity control device to provide an optimum environmental requirement for sensitivity improvement in LFAs, followed by quantification by using a smartphone. We found that a RH beyond 60% with temperatures of 55-60°C and 37-40°C produced optimum nucleic acid hybridization and antigen-antibody interaction in LFAs, respectively representing a 10-fold and 3-fold signal enhancement over ambient conditions (25°C, 60% RH). We envision that in the future the portable device could be coupled with a fully integrated paper-based sample-to-answer biosensor for sensitive detection of various target analytes in POC settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China; Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China.
authors.forename: Jane Ru
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China; Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China; MOE Key Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials and Structures (LMMS), School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Structure Strength and Vibration, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, PR China.
authors.forename: Shangsheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wan Abu Bakar
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Wan Abas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: bpingguan@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pingguan-Murphy
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China; Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, PR China. Electronic address: fengxu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D003715:Dengue / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D057230:Limit of Detection; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011934:Reagent Strips / Q000032:analysis; D000068997:Smartphone; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D011934:Reagent Strips; D006046:Gold
keywords: Antigen–antibody interaction; LFA; Nucleic acid hybridization; POC; Portable temperature–humidity control device; RH; Temperature