Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Several proprietary Smartphone-Based Colorimetric Readers (SBCRs) for in vitro diagnostics (IVD) have been developed using a standard Smartphone (Samsung Galaxy SIII mini), a gadget (iPAD mini, iPAD4, iPhone 5S or any similar tablet/ Smartphone), a custom-made dark hood and a base holder assembly. A 96 or 24-well microtiter plate (MTP) was positioned on the gadget�s screensaver, enabling white light-based bottom illumination only at the well bottom. The set-up was demonstrated and compared with a commercial MTP reader (MTPR) for human C-reactive protein immunoassay and Bicinchoninic Acid (BCA) protein estimation assay. Colorimetric images of the reaction solutions were captured by the Smartphone�s back camera with 5 megapixels resolution. The pixel intensity of the captured images was determined by an image processing algorithm. SBCR has same precision, dynamic range and sensitivity as MTPR. SBCRs would have a considerably commercial opportunity as immunoassays using the clinical IVD kits are based on color detection. Being 20-fold cheaper than MTPR, SBCR could be an ideal point-of-care (POC) colorimetric detection device for the next-generation of cost-effective IVD and versatile tools in bioanalytical settings. Moreover, they could be employed for colorimetric assays in the visible range using a transparent and flat bio analytical platform such as lab-on-a-chip, lateral flow microfluidics and centrifugal microfluidics-based LabDisk platforms. Considering their widespread use (~7 billion users, ~96% world population), Smartphone�s are under on-going improvement to become smarter, smaller and cheaper. As more and more objects are linked to with a Smartphone, SBCR will become a powerful assistant of analysts to play an important role in IVD, POC, personalized healthcare monitoring and management, telemedicine and remote biosensing applications.

Biography

Email: sandeep.kumar.vashist@hsg-imit.de