Smartphone-Based Mobile Detection Platform for Molecular Diagnostics and Spatiotemporal Disease Mapping

Rapid and quantitative molecular diagnostics in the field, at home, and at remote clinics is essential for evidence-based disease management, control, and prevention. Conventional molecular diagnostics requires extensive sample preparation, relatively sophisticated instruments, and trained personnel, restricting its use to centralized laboratories. To overcome these limitations, we designed a simple, inexpensive, hand-held, smartphone-based mobile detection platform, dubbed “smart-connected cup” (SCC), for rapid, connected, and quantitative molecular diagnostics. Our platform combines bioluminescent assay in real-time and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (BART-LAMP) technology with smartphone-based detection, eliminating the need for an excitation source and optical filters that are essential in fluorescent-based detection. The incubation heating for the isothermal amplification is provided, electricity-free, with an exothermic chemical reaction, and incubation temperature is regulated with a phase ...