Multi-cartridge Fluorescence Reader for Quantitative Immunoassays

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2019 Jul:2019:5447-5450. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857256.

Abstract

Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA) play a significant role in point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, facilitating early diagnosis of medical conditions. With simpler infrastructure requirements, POC diagnostics can be easily adopted in remote areas as well as for end-user level monitoring. As part of the current work, we present a camera based multi-cartridge fluorescence reader. The proposed system can carry out simultaneous analysis of four LFIA test cartridges. It forms a simple, rugged system requiring minimal human intervention and the average time taken for tests is lower as compared to the available LFIA readers. The hardware architecture of the system along with the software algorithms utilized is described in this paper. To validate the system performance, tests were conducted using HbA1C samples. The designed system comprises of four test-slots accommodating four test cartridges in a single go. The correlation of the obtained results with reference sample concentrations was determined and system calibration equations were as well obtained. Repeatability across the slots in terms of % coefficient of variation was calculated and was found to be less than 6%. The obtained results along with challenges in the current system and future modifications are also discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Immunoassay* / instrumentation
  • Point-of-Care Systems*