Turntable Paper-Based Device to Detect <i>Escherichia coli</i>

• Main Authors: Yung-Chih Wang, Yao-Hung Tsai, Ching-Fen Shen, Ming-Yao He, Yi-Chen Fu, Chen-Yu Sang, Yi-Tzu Lee, Chao-Min Cheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Micromachines
• Subjects: <i>Escherichia coli</i>; paper-based ELISA; point-of-care; turntable
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/2/194

<i>Escherichia coli</i> has been known to cause a variety of infectious diseases. The conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a well-known method widely used to diagnose a variety of infectious diseases. This method is expensive and requires considerable time and effort to conduct and complete multiple integral steps. We previously proposed the use of paper-based ELISA to rapidly detect the presence of <i>E. coli</i>. This approach has demonstrated utility for point-of-care (POC) urinary tract infection diagnoses. Paper-based ELISA, while advantageous, still requires the execution of several procedural steps. Here, we discuss the design and experimental implementation of a turntable paper-based device to simplify the paper-based ELISA protocols for the detection of <i>E. coli</i>. In this process, antibodies or reagents are preloaded onto zones of a paper-based device and allowed to dry before use. We successfully used this device to detect <i>E. coli</i> with a detection limit of 10⁵ colony-forming units (colony-forming unit [CFU])/mL.