Engineering At-Home Dilution and Filtration Methods to Enable Paper-Based Colorimetric Biosensing in Human Blood with Cell-Free Protein Synthesis
Tyler J. Free, Ryan W. Tucker, Katelyn M. Simonson, Sydney A. Smith, Caleb M. Lindgren, William G. Pitt, Bradley C. Bundy
Abstract
Diagnostic blood tests can guide the administration of healthcare to save and improve lives. Most clinical biosensing blood tests require a trained technician and specialized equipment to process samples and interpret results, which greatly limits test accessibility. Colorimetric paper-based diagnostics have an equipment-free readout, but raw blood obscures a colorimetric response which has motivated diverse efforts to develop blood sample processing techniques. This work uses inexpensive readily-available materials to engineer user-friendly dilution and filtration methods for blood sample collection and processing to enable a proof-of-concept colorimetric biosensor that is responsive to glutamine in 50 µL blood drop samples in less than 30 min. Paper-based user-friendly blood sample collection and processing combined with CFPS biosensing technology represents important progress towards the development of at-home biosensors that could be broadly applicable to personalized healthcare.