Paper-based quantitative electrochemical biosensing test cards

The changes in health care systems, especially of industrialized countries, and the increasing health awareness of people creates a strong demand for user-friendly low-cost biosensors that enable molecular testing outside central laboratories. At present, non-invasive point-of-care rapid tests are mostly available in the form of single-use test strips based on a colorimetric readout. The readout of such test strips is strongly influenced by the subjective visual perception. Consequently, the results are only qualitative and suffer from reproducibility issues. Image sensing techniques can only partly provide a solution. To overcome this limitation, the European Horizon 2020 project IMPETUS [3] targets the development of a roll-to-roll pilot line in an industrial environment capable of manufacturing fully integrated paper-based printed electrochemical biosensors that directly transfer the measured data to the user’s smartphone via NFC data transmission. To achieve these goals research and development is carried out with respect to dedicated paper, bio-ink formulation, printing processes, and the integration of a special silicon microchip for signal acquisition, storage and transmission. The biosensors are designed as self-powered disposable test cards that combine the simplicity of lateral flow tests with multiplexed quantitative readout, which is enabled by the implemented electrochemical detection method. As an application example, IMPETUS addresses the consumer need for fast and inexpensive point-of-care discrimination between bacterial and viral infections.
We will present our progress towards the full integration of such systems, showing their capabilities in performing electrochemical measurements using a highly integrated electronic read-out chip and in transferring contactless the data. Furthermore, the status of the pilot line development will be shown.