Driven by complex and interconnected factors, including population
growth, climate change, and geopolitics, infectious diseases
represent one of the greatest healthcare challenges of the 21st
century. Diagnostic technologies are the first line of defense
in the fight against infectious disease, providing critical
information to inform epidemiological models, track diseases,
decide treatment choices, and ultimately prevent epidemics. The
diagnosis of infectious disease at the genomic level using
nucleic acid disease biomarkers has proven to be the most
effective approach to date. Such methods rely heavily on enzymes
to specifically amplify or detect nucleic acids in complex
samples, and significant effort has been exerted to harness the
power of enzymes for in vitro nucleic acid diagnostics.
Unfortunately, significant challenges limit the potential of
enzyme-assisted nucleic acid diagnostics, particularly when
translating diagnostic technologies from the lab toward the
point-of-use or point-of-care. Herein, we discuss the current
state of the field and highlight cross-disciplinary efforts to
solve the challenges associated with the successful deployment
of this important class of diagnostics at or near the
point-of-care.