Plasmonic coffee-ring biosensing for AI-assisted point-of-care diagnostics
Behrouzi et al.
The finding, in our words
A coffee-ring biosensor detected sepsis, COVID-19 and cancer proteins from self-collected saliva down to 3 pg/ml within 12 minutes, achieving sensitivity more than 100-fold higher than lateral flow assays. The system uses a smartphone camera and AI analysis, providing a rapid, affordable platform for decentralised protein diagnostics.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Mass spectrometry identified SARS-CoV-2 proteins in all self-collected saliva samples from people with COVID-19, while rRT-PCR detected viral RNA in only 57 per cent of the same samples, indicating that proteomic analysis may offer greater sensitivity for diagnosis and monitoring, especially in cases with low viral load.
This study used home self-collected saliva samples to successfully monitor cytokines and cortisol in mothers and infants, finding that a community singing intervention significantly reduced salivary interleukin-6 levels in mothers with postnatal depression.
Kirkpatrick et al., Brain, behavior, and immunity (paywalled) · source ↗
In people at high risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, saliva showed decreased EBV load and increased EBV DNA methylation compared with controls, and a stepwise strategy that adds saliva testing to serum EBV antibodies improved triage efficiency.
This paper describes a handheld electrochemical sensor for vitamin C measurement in saliva and urine, showing a linear range from 0.2 to 200 µm and detection limit of 0.03 µm. The device demonstrated satisfactory accuracy and recovery in human samples, suggesting potential for affordable home-based testing of vitamin C status.
Fu et al., Advanced healthcare materials (paywalled) · source ↗
Oral sponge saliva RT-PCR achieved 95% sensitivity and 95% specificity compared with nasopharyngeal swabs in 3,488 symptomatic and asymptomatic adults, while buccal swab performance varied with infection history and symptoms. The rapid antigen test showed 66.9% sensitivity overall, increasing to 97% in high viral load samples. Oral sponge collection permits self-sampling without laboratory pre-analytical steps, offering a robust method for decentralised SARS-CoV-2 screening.
Althaus et al., BMC infectious diseases · source ↗