Paper biosensors revolutionise diagnostics

The market for in vitro diagnostics currently stands at approximately EUR 42 billion with applications ranging from personalised medicine, animal screening all the way to agri-food based applications. As such, there is a large drive to reduce the costs of these tests, whilst increasing sensitivity and time to diagnosis.

Bringing together seven partners from academia, a technical research centre, an engineering small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) and three other SMEs with a strong background in diagnostics, the project 'A new generation of fibre-based diagnostic sensors' (BIOGNOSTIX) has achieved just that.

The current efficacy rate of human medications in therapeutic areas such as asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer ranges from 25 to 60 %. There is therefore a clear need to determine the benefits of a medication on an individual before prescription to improve health care globally by tailoring treatment to an individual.

BIOGNOSTIX has delivered a number of toolkits that combine biochemistry, microfluidics, fluid-jet printing and a novel immune-ink technology platform. Together, they make for rapid multiplex assays on disposable paper-based analytical devices. Key biomarkers have been engineered with an emphasis on those of commercial interest. A laboratory-scale diagnostic reader interprets signals generated on a chip and associated software enables modification to new labels.

Related medical costs for treatment of food-borne diseases reach more than EUR 6 billion per annum in the EU alone. Prompt detection of toxins at various levels during food processing and production would help eliminate contaminated products from entering the food chain. BIOGNOSTIX conjugated anti-salmonella polyclonal antibodies to ink particles and developed a new immunoassay, sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, for salmonella detection. They also developed a new rapid sample preparation protocol for salmonella testing.

The adaptability and cost effectiveness of the BIOGNOSTIX sensors open up applications in medical diagnostic devices, in veterinary science for screening diseases and in the food production chain. POUTs that were previously confined to the laboratory will reduce costs. Moreover, there will be a reduction in health care costs due to more efficient diagnostics and monitoring that is localised, personalised and more pre-emptive.