Na Miso, Boegner David J, Everitt Micaela L, White Ian M
Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Biosensors (Basel). 2025 Apr 29;15(5):276. doi: 10.3390/bios15050276.
Detecting, identifying, and tracking genetic material in wastewater allows public health agencies to accurately monitor the spread of infectious diseases in communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, viral diagnostics for wastewater have been used to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses and have allowed public health officials to make more informed decisions regarding public safety. However, due to the cost and complexity of viral RNA/DNA detection platforms, analysis is limited to sophisticated laboratory facilities, which limits deployment and delays results. In contrast, a low-cost rapid point-of-sample solution for the detection of viruses in wastewater would enable worldwide deployment with immediate analytical results. We have recently reported the development of thermally responsive alkane partitions (TRAPs) for automated magnetofluidic assays, enabling sample-to-answer point-of-care detection of viruses in complex samples. Here we demonstrate the use of TRAPs in combination with hydrogel-coated magnetic particles for virus purification and assay automation to enable detection of SARS-CoV-2 from spiked wastewater samples in a low-cost cassette within a handheld instrument. Using this system, we show distinguishable detection of SARS-CoV-2 below 200 copies/mL in wastewater.
检测、识别和追踪废水中的遗传物质，有助于公共卫生机构准确监测传染病在社区中的传播情况。为应对新冠疫情，已利用废水病毒诊断方法来追踪严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）及其他病毒的传播，并使公共卫生官员能够就公共安全做出更明智的决策。然而，由于病毒RNA/DNA检测平台的成本和复杂性，分析工作仅限于先进的实验室设施，这限制了其应用范围并导致结果延迟。相比之下，一种用于检测废水中病毒的低成本快速样本检测解决方案将能够在全球范围内应用，并能立即得出分析结果。我们最近报道了用于自动化磁流体分析的热响应性烷烃隔板（TRAPs）的开发，可实现复杂样本中病毒的即时检测。在此，我们展示了将TRAPs与水凝胶包被的磁性颗粒结合用于病毒纯化和分析自动化，从而能够在手持仪器内的低成本检测盒中从加标的废水样本中检测出SARS-CoV-2。使用该系统，我们展示了在废水中可区分检测出浓度低于200拷贝/毫升的SARS-CoV-2。
