Browsing by Author "Cordray, Michael S."
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A paper and plastic device for the combined isothermal amplification and lateral flow detection of Plasmodium DNA(BioMed Central, 2015) Cordray, Michael S.; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca R.Background: Isothermal amplification techniques are emerging as a promising method for malaria diagnosis since they are capable of detecting extremely low concentrations of parasite target while mitigating the need for infrastructure and training required by other nucleic acid based tests. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is promising for further development since it operates in a short time frame (<30 min) and produces a product that can be visually detected on a lateral flow dipstick. A self-sealing paper and plastic system that performs both the amplification and detection of a malaria DNA sequence is presented. Methods: Primers were designed using the NCBI nBLAST tools and screened using gel electrophoresis. Paper and plastic devices were prototyped using commercial design software and parts were cut using a laser cutter and assembled by hand. Synthetic copies of the Plasmodium 18S gene were spiked into solution and used as targets for the RPA reaction. To test the performance of the device the same samples spiked with synthetic target were run in parallel both in the paper and plastic devices and using conventional bench top methods. Results: Novel RPA primers were developed that bind to sequences present in the four species of Plasmodium which infect humans. The paper and plastic devices were found to be capable of detecting as few as 5 copies/µL of synthetic Plasmodium DNA (50 copies total), comparable to the same reaction run on the bench top. The devices produce visual results in an hour, cost approximately $1, and are self-contained once the device is sealed. Conclusions: The device was capable of carrying out the RPA reaction and detecting meaningful amounts of synthetic Plasmodium DNA in a self-sealing and self-contained device. This device may be a step towards making nucleic acid tests more accessible for malaria detection.Item Gold Nanoparticle Aggregation for Quantification of Oligonucleotides: Optimization and Increased Dynamic Range(Elsevier, 2012) Cordray, Michael S.; Amdahl, Matthew; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca R.A variety of assays have been proposed to detect small quantities of nucleic acids at the point-of-care. One approach relies on target-induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles functionalized with oligonucleotide sequences complementary to adjacent regions on the targeted sequence. In the presence of the target sequence, the gold nanoparticles aggregate, producing an easily detectable shift in the optical scattering properties of the solution. The major limitations of this assay are that it requires heating, and that long incubation times are required to produce a result. This study aims to optimize the assay conditions and optical readout, with the goals of eliminating the need for heating and reducing the time to result without sacrificing sensitivity or dynamic range. By optimizing assay conditions and measuring the spectrum of scattered light at the endpoint of incubation, we find that the assay is capable of producing quantifiable results at room temperature in 30 minutes with a linear dynamic range spanning from 150 amoles to 15 fmoles of target. If changes in light scattering are measured dynamically during the incubation process, the linear range can be expanded 2-fold, spanning 50 amoles to 500 fmoles, while decreasing the time to result down to 10 minutes.Item Review: Emerging Nucleic Acid-Based Tests for Point-of-Care Detection of Malaria(The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2012) Cordray, Michael S.; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca R.Malaria remains a serious disease in the developing world. There is a growing consensus that new diagnostics are needed in low-resource settings. The ideal malaria diagnostic should be able to speciate; measure parasitemia; low-cost, quick, and simple to use; and capable of detecting low-level infections. A promising development are nucleic acid tests (NATs) for the diagnosis of malaria, which are well suited for point-of-care use because of their ability to detect low-level infections and speciate, and because they have high sensitivity and specificity. The greatest barrier to NAT use in the past has been its relatively high cost, and the amount of infrastructure required in the form of equipment, stable power, and reagent storage. This review describes recent developments to decrease the cost and run time, and increase the ease of use of NAT while maintaining their high sensitivity and specificity and low limit of detection at the point-of-care.