Automated Recognition of Plasmodium falciparum Parasites from Portable Blood Levitation Imaging

Abstract

In many malaria‐endemic regions, current detection tools are inadequate in diagnostic accuracy and accessibility. To meet the need for direct, phenotypic, and automated malaria parasite detection in field settings, a portable platform to process, image, and analyze whole blood to detect Plasmodium falciparum parasites, is developed. The liberated parasites from lysed red blood cells suspended in a magnetic field are accurately detected using this cellphone‐interfaced, battery‐operated imaging platform. A validation study is conducted at Ugandan clinics, processing 45 malaria‐negative and 36 malaria‐positive clinical samples without external infrastructure. Texture and morphology features are extracted from the sample images, and a random forest classifier is trained to assess infection status, achieving 100% sensitivity and 91% specificity against gold‐standard measurements (microscopy and polymerase chain reaction), and limit of detection of 31 parasites per µL. This rapid and user‐friendly platform enables portable parasite detection and can support malaria diagnostics, surveillance, and research in resource‐constrained environments.

Magnetic Levitation System Isolates and Purifies Airborne Viruses

“…To assess our hypothesis, we tested the standard Maglev systems for the levitation of various types of microorganisms, ranging from bacteria to bacteriophages and human viruses, present in pure samples or complex air samples. It is noteworthy that although capillary Maglev has a higher resolution to levitate and separate pathogenic biosystems , as compared to standard Maglev, we selected the latter mainly because air-based impurities (including dust) can contaminate and clot capillary Maglev systems and, therefore, the system would not be feasible and efficient in practice. In addition, due to the simplicity and efficiency of the standard Maglev in low-resource settings, this technique can be diversely available for use by a wider population.…”

“…39 Maglev has also been applied for the levitation and density assessment of bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), 36 and parasites (Plasmodium falciparum). 40 To the best of our knowledge, no study has assessed the levitation of viruses, independent of their cultured host cells. In addition, the application of the Maglev system as a method for the isolation, enrichment, and purification of respiratory viruses in complex mixed samples, such as indoor air, has yet to be explored (Figure 1).…”

“…Maglev has also been applied for the levitation and density assessment of bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and parasites (Plasmodium falciparum) . To the best of our knowledge, no study has assessed the levitation of viruses, independent of their cultured host cells.…”

Ultra-Sensitive Portable Visual Paper-Based Viral Molecularly Imprinted Sensor without Autofluorescence Interference

“…People have been made to achieve this goal. Portable and self-service testing is an emerging diagnostic platform that has significantly improved on-site infectious disease management and surveillance in recent years. − As an alternative method of laboratory detection, the unique advantages of portable sensors for disease outbreak control include simpler manufacture and operation, less analysis time, cost-effectiveness, and less reagent consumption. − For example, Chen et al constructed an electric double-layer gate field effect transistor-based biosensing system utilizing Bluetooth communication and portable detection of a rapid antigen with digital health for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein with a detection limit of about 3 pM . Zhang et al constructed a microfluidic chip with an integrated controllable micromagnetic field to achieve rapid detection and typing of several influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, H9N2), which is convenient, time-saving, simple to operate, strong anti-interference ability, and other advantages; the detection limit is about 0.21, 0.16, and 0.12 nM, which can provide a useful technology for the rapid detection and typing of various influenza viruses .…”