Elsevier

Analytica Chimica Acta

Volume 1146, 15 February 2021, Pages 184-199
Analytica Chimica Acta

Review
A critical review of point-of-care diagnostic technologies to combat viral pandemics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2020.10.009Get rights and content

Highlights

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    Despite decades of research, no products can to meet the testing needs of a pandemic.

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    We propose new guidelines for the design of point-of-care tests for pandemics.

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    We summarize the literature on point-of-care diagnostics for pandemics.

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    We find that sample preparation steps are the primary hindrance to deployment.

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    We provide a list of recommended research topics to prepare for future pandemics.

Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic of 2019–2020 pointedly revealed the lack of diagnostic solutions that are able to keep pace with the rapid spread of the virus. Despite the promise of decades of lab-on-a-chip research, no commercial products were available to deliver rapid results or enable testing in the field at the onset of the pandemic. In this critical review, we assess the current state of progress on the development of point-of-care technologies for the diagnosis of viral diseases that cause pandemics. While many previous reviews have reported on progress in various lab-on-a-chip technologies, here we address the literature from the perspective of the testing needs of a rapidly expanding pandemic. First, we recommend a set of requirements to heed when designing point-of-care diagnostic technologies to address the testing needs of a pandemic. We then review the current state of assay technologies with a focus on isothermal amplification and lateral-flow immunoassays. Though there is much progress on assay development, we argue that the largest roadblock to deployment exists in sample preparation. We summarize current approaches to automate sample preparation and discuss both the progress and shortcomings of these developments. Finally, we provide our recommendations to the field of specific challenges to address in order to prepare for the next pandemic.

Keywords

Point-of-care
COVID-19
Influenza
Ebola
Pandemic
Lab-on-a-chip

Cited by (0)

Micaela Everitt is a graduate student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Washington. She is the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Alana Tillery is an undergraduate student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She is the recipient of the Extraordinary Service Award and the Outstanding Junior Award, both from the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. She is also a recipient of the Philip Merril Presidential Scholar Award.

Martha David is an undergraduate student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She is the recipient of the Clark Opportunity Transfer Scholarship and the Bechtel Scholarship for Engineering Transfer Students.

Nikita Singh is an undergraduate student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. She is the recipient of the President’s Scholarship and has received the ASPIRE Fellowship at the University of Maryland.

Aviva Borison is a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. She received her B.S. in Bioengineering at the University of Maryland in 2020. While at the University of Maryland she was a recipient of the President’s Scholarship.

Ian White is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Dr. White received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2002, where he developed next generation optical metropolitan area communication networks. He then served as a Member of Technical Staff at Sprint’s Advanced Technology Laboratories until 2005. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Missouri Life Sciences Center, Dr. White joined the engineering faculty at the University of Maryland. His research group aims to develop novel microsystems for applications in chemical analytics and disease diagnosis.

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