A decentralized approach to diagnostics can decrease the time to
treatment of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings. Yet most modern
diagnostic tools require stable electricity and are not portable. Here, we
describe a portable device for isothermal nucleic-acid quantification that can
operate with power from electricity, sunlight or a flame, and that can store
heat from intermittent energy sources, for operation when electrical power is
not available or reliable. We deployed the device in two Ugandan health clinics,
where it successfully operated through multiple power outages, with equivalent
performance when powered via sunlight or electricity. A direct comparison
between the portable device and commercial qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain
reaction) machines for samples from 71 Ugandan patients (29 of which were tested
in Uganda) for the presence of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus
DNA showed 94% agreement, with the four discordant samples having the lowest
concentration of the herpesvirus DNA. The device’s flexibility in power
supply provides a needed solution for on-field diagnostics.
We present a method to build microcircuits of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons with a controlled topology. The circuits are compatible with imaging and microelectrode array experiments.
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