Rapid, Quantitative, and Ultrasensitive Point‐of‐Care Testing: A Portable SERS Reader for Lateral Flow Assays in Clinical Chemistry

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 442 - 446
• Main Authors: Tran, Vi, Walkenfort, Bernd, König, Matthias, Salehi, Mohammad, Schlücker, Sebastian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 08-01-2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Biosensing Techniques - methods; Chemistry, Clinical; Chorionic gonadotropin; Communication; Communications; Fiber optics; Gonadotropins; hCG pregnancy test; Humans; Instrumentation; lateral flow assay; Multiplexing; Optical fibers; Organic chemistry; Pituitary (anterior); Point-of-Care Systems - standards; point-of-care testing; portable SERS reader; Pregnancy; Raman spectroscopy; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods; point-of-care testing; portable SERS reader; hCG pregnancy test; Raman spectroscopy; lateral flow assay
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201810917

The design of a portable Raman/SERS‐LFA reader with line illumination using a custom‐made fiber optic probe for rapid, quantitative, and ultrasensitive point‐of‐care testing (POCT) is presented. The pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is detectable in clinical samples within only 2–5 s down to approximately 1.6 mIU mL−1. This acquisition time is several orders of magnitude shorter than those of existing approaches requiring expensive Raman instrumentation, and the method is 15‐times more sensitive than a commercially available lateral flow assay (LFA) as the gold standard. The SERS‐LFA technology paves the way for affordable, quantitative, and ultrasensitive POCT with multiplexing potential in real‐world applications, ranging from clinical chemistry to food and environmental analysis as well as drug and biowarfare agent testing.
Positive or negative: A compact Raman LFA reader for rapid, quantitative, and ultrasensitive SERS‐based point‐of‐care testing within a few seconds has been developed. The pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is detectable in clinical samples within only 2–5 s down to about 1.6 mIU mL−1.