Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (Mar 2022)

A Portable Droplet Magnetofluidic Device for Point-of-Care Detection of Multidrug-Resistant Candida auris

  • Pei-Wei Lee,
  • Marissa Totten,
  • Liben Chen,
  • Fan-En Chen,
  • Alexander Y. Trick,
  • Kushagra Shah,
  • Hoan Thanh Ngo,
  • Mei Jin,
  • Kuangwen Hsieh,
  • Sean X. Zhang,
  • Tza-Huei Wang,
  • Tza-Huei Wang,
  • Tza-Huei Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.826694
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that can cause severe and deadly infections. To date, C. auris has spurred outbreaks in healthcare settings in thirty-three countries across five continents. To control and potentially prevent its spread, there is an urgent need for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics that can rapidly screen patients, close patient contacts, and surveil environmental sources. Droplet magnetofluidics (DM), which leverages nucleic acid-binding magnetic beads for realizing POC-amenable nucleic acid detection platforms, offers a promising solution. Herein, we report the first DM device—coined POC.auris—for POC detection of C. auris. As part of POC.auris, we have incorporated a handheld cell lysis module that lyses C. auris cells with 2 min hands-on time. Subsequently, within the palm-sized and automated DM device, C. auris and control DNA are magnetically extracted and purified by a motorized magnetic arm and finally amplified via a duplex real-time quantitative PCR assay by a miniaturized rapid PCR module and a miniaturized fluorescence detector—all in ≤30 min. For demonstration, we use POC.auris to detect C. auris isolates from 3 major clades, with no cross reactivity against other Candida species and a limit of detection of ∼300 colony forming units per mL. Taken together, POC.auris presents a potentially useful tool for combating C. auris.

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