Abstract
Detection and control of infectious diseases is a major problem, especially in developing countries. Lateral flow immunoassays can be used with great success for the detection of infectious diseases. However, for the quantification of their results an electronic reader is required. This paper presents an optimized handheld electronic reader for developing countries. It features a potentially low-cost, low-power, battery-operated device with no added optical accessories. The operation of this proof of concept device is based on measuring the reflected light from the lateral flow immunoassay and translating it into the concentration of the specific analyte of interest. Characterization of the surface of the lateral flow immunoassay has been performed in order to accurately model its response to the incident light. Ray trace simulations have been performed to optimize the system and achieve maximum sensitivity by placing all the components in optimum positions. A microcontroller enables all the signal processing to be performed on the device and a Bluetooth module allows transmission of the results wirelessly to a mobile phone app. Its performance has been validated using lateral flow immunoassays with influenza A nucleoprotein in the concentration range of 0.5 ng/mL to 200 ng/mL.
Highlights
Low and middle income countries usually struggle to provide sufficient healthcare services access to their population [1]
This paper presents a handheld optical reader for lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) that avoids the drawbacks of these systems
The bi-directional scattering distribution function (BSDF) model that characterizes the surface of LFIA has been experimentally measured using the imaging sphere
Summary
Low and middle income countries usually struggle to provide sufficient healthcare services access to their population [1]. With all the extra optical components that need to be added the main advantage of fast implementation is lost These systems have reproducibility issues, because different models of mobile phones have different cameras with different resolutions and different lenses which can give different results. The principle of operation of the system developed is based on shining uniform light in the detection pad surface of the LFIA and measuring the intensity of the reflected light from the LFIA to an array of photodiodes, Figure 1b shows the block diagram of the proposed system Using this scanning method without the need of any moving parts, the system can quantify the analyte present in the sample for a variety of LFIAs test and control line widths and positions.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
