A low-cost fluorescence reader for in vitro transcription and nucleic acid detection with Cas13a.

ABSTRACT: Point-of-care testing (POCT) in low-resource settings requires tools that can operate independently of typical laboratory infrastructure. Due to its favorable signal-to-background ratio, a wide variety of biomedical tests utilize fluorescence as a readout. However, fluorescence techniques often require expensive or complex instrumentation and can be difficult to adapt for POCT. To address this issue, we developed a pocket-sized fluorescence detector costing less than $15 that is easy to manufacture and can operate in low-resource settings. It is built from standard electronic components, including an LED and a light dependent resistor, filter foils and 3D printed parts, and reliably reaches a lower limit of detection (LOD) of ≈ 6.8 nM fluorescein, which is sufficient to follow typical bioc

SUBMITTER: Katzmeier F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6919979 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature