Detection of Arboviruses in Blood and Mosquito Slurry Samples using Polymer Microchip

Abstract

Molecular detection of arboviruses has several potential public health benefits. Worldwide increase in Dengue virus activity as well as the emergence of Zika and Chikungunya viruses underline the usefulness of a portable, small foot-print platforms for the molecular detection of viruses in diagnostic laboratories, point of care applications and field work. In this study, we have demonstrated a polymer based diagnostic microchip technology capable of extracting and purifying nucleic acid from highly complex sample matrices including mosquito slurry. We have furthermore reported a multilayered chip design on the polymer surface for nucleic acid based sample-to-answer tests while lowering the voltage and power requirements to make it suitable for in-field deployment. Several panels of human and mosquito samples containing different levels of arboviruses were successfully tested to establish the sensitivity and accuracy of this low-cost disposable diagnostic technology.