title: Paper-based analytical devices for clinical diagnosis: recent advances in the fabrication techniques and sensing mechanisms.
abstract: There is a significant interest in developing inexpensive portable biosensing platforms for various applications including disease diagnostics, environmental monitoring, food safety, and water testing at the point-of-care (POC) settings. Current diagnostic assays available in the developed world require sophisticated laboratory infrastructure and expensive reagents. Hence, they are not suitable for resource-constrained settings with limited financial resources, basic health infrastructure, and few trained technicians. Cellulose and flexible transparency paper-based analytical devices have demonstrated enormous potential for developing robust, inexpensive and portable devices for disease diagnostics. These devices offer promising solutions to disease management in resource-constrained settings where the vast majority of the population cannot afford expensive and highly sophisticated treatment options. Areas covered: In this review, the authors describe currently developed cellulose and flexible transparency paper-based microfluidic devices, device fabrication techniques, and sensing technologies that are integrated with these devices. The authors also discuss the limitations and challenges associated with these devices and their potential in clinical settings. Expert commentary: In recent years, cellulose and flexible transparency paper-based microfluidic devices have demonstrated the potential to become future healthcare options despite a few limitations such as low sensitivity and reproducibility.
authors.affiliation: a Computer Engineering & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Lab , Florida Atlantic University , Boca Raton , FL , USA.|b Asghar-Lab, Micro and Nanotechnology for Medicine , College of Engineering and Computer Science , Boca Raton , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Mazhar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sher
authors.affiliation: b Asghar-Lab, Micro and Nanotechnology for Medicine , College of Engineering and Computer Science , Boca Raton , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: c The Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology , Stanford School of Medicine , Palo Alto , CA , USA.|d Department of Electrical Engineering (by courtesy) , Stanford University , Stanford , CA 94305 , USA.
authors.forename: Utkan
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Demirci
authors.affiliation: a Computer Engineering & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Lab , Florida Atlantic University , Boca Raton , FL , USA.|b Asghar-Lab, Micro and Nanotechnology for Medicine , College of Engineering and Computer Science , Boca Raton , FL , USA.|e Department of Biological Sciences , Florida Atlantic University , Boca Raton , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Waseem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Asghar
mesh_terms: D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010209:Paper; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
keywords: Point-of-care diagnostics; biosensors; cellulose paper-based analytical devices; device fabrication; flexible transparency paper-based analytical devices; microfluidics