A cost-effective smartphone-based device for rapid -reaction protein (CRP) detection using magnetoelastic immunosensor

• Published in: Lab on a chip Vol. 23; no. 8; pp. 248 - 256
• Main Authors: Yuan, Zhongyun, Han, Mengshu, Li, Donghao, Hao, Runfang, Guo, Xing, Sang, Shengbo, Zhang, Hongpeng, Ma, Xingyi, Jin, Hu, Xing, Zhijin, Zhao, Chun
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 12.04.2023
• ISSN: 1473-0197; 1473-0189
• DOI: 10.1039/d2lc01065h

C -Reaction protein (CRP) is a marker of nonspecific immunity for vital signs and wound assessment, and it can be used to diagnose infections in clinical medicine. However, measuring CRP level currently requires hospital-based instruments, high-cost reagents, and a complex process, all of which have limited its full capabilities for self-detection, a growing trend in modern medicine. In this study, we developed a novel smartphone-based device using advanced methods of magnetoelastic immunosensing to mitigate these limitations. We combined a system-on-chip (SoC) hardware architecture with smartphone apps to realize the sampling of resonance frequency shift on magnetoelastic chips, which can determine the ultra-sensitivity to mass change caused by the binding of anti-CRP antibody and CRP. Through detecting a multi-group of samples, we found that the resonance frequency shift was linearly proportional to the CRP concentration in the range from 0.1 to 100 μg mL −1 , with a sensitivity of 12.90 Hz μg −1 mL −1 and a detection limit of 2.349 × 10 −4 μg mL −1 . Meanwhile, compared with the large-scale instrument used in clinical settings, the performance of our device was stable and significantly more portable, rapid and cost-effective, offering excellent potential for modern home-based diagnosis. A smartphone-based C -reaction protein magnetoelastic (CRP-ME) immunosensor was developed. In this study, CRP can be detected with a sensitivity of 12.90 Hz μg −1 mL −1 and detection limit of 2.349 × 10 −4 μg mL −1 .