title: Advances in addressing technical challenges of point-of-care diagnostics in resource-limited settings.
abstract: The striking prevalence of HIV, TB and malaria, as well as outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza A (H7N9), Ebola and MERS, poses great challenges for patient care in resource-limited settings (RLS). However, advanced diagnostic technologies cannot be implemented in RLS largely due to economic constraints. Simple and inexpensive point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, which rely less on environmental context and operator training, have thus been extensively studied to achieve early diagnosis and treatment monitoring in non-laboratory settings. Despite great input from material science, biomedical engineering and nanotechnology for developing POC diagnostics, significant technical challenges are yet to be overcome. Summarized here are the technical challenges associated with POC diagnostics from a RLS perspective and the latest advances in addressing these challenges are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.|b Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases , Hangzhou , China.|c Institute for Translational Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.|d The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
authors.forename: ShuQi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: d The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lifson
authors.affiliation: d The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Inci
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.|b Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases , Hangzhou , China.|c Institute for Translational Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.
authors.forename: Li-Guo
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: a State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.|b Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases , Hangzhou , China.|c Institute for Translational Medicine , Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.|d The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Ye-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: d The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Utkan
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Demirci
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000067716:Point-of-Care Testing / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards
keywords: Technical challenges; diagnostics; infectious diseases; point-of-care; resource-limited settings