Masters Applied Projects

Project 21

Sensitivity Assessment of a Point-of-Care In Vitro Diagnostic for Antibodies

Student: Anna Rothweil

Mentors: Dr. Jitendran Muthuswamy – SBHSE
Dr. Massoud Khraiche – Neural Engineering & Nanobiosensors Group, Biomedical Engineering Program, Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, American University of Beirut
Dr. James Abbas – SBHSE

YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/84013005586

Time: 10am – 2pm

Abstract

Assessment of antibodies is useful in a variety of clinical diagnostic contexts and serological assays. Conventional tests include RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction), lateral flow assays, and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). However, these tests are typically either not point-of-care or only semi-quantitative. The goal of this study is to assess the sensitivity of an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) that is both point-of-care, quantitative and rapid (<10 min). Our lab has previously developed and validated an acoustic resonator platform for detecting antibodies to GABA (g-aminobutyric acid), a key and ubiquitous inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. In this study, the sensitivity of a miniaturized instantiation of the above-mentioned platform is tested for potential in vitro diagnostic application. Samples (50 µl) of a distinctive monoclonal antibody (45 µg/ml) at 5 different concentrations - 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 (all in µg/ml) were tested. Preliminary tests demonstrate that the point-of-care IVD responds linearly to concentrations of 0.1-10 µg/ml. For concentrations below 0.1 µg/ml, the responses were not consistent. These results demonstrate the feasibility of developing a point-of-care IVD using the acoustic resonator platform previously used for detection of anti-GABA antibodies. Future work will focus on improving the detection limits and specificity of this system.