Electrochemical Strategy for Low-Cost Viral Detection.

Sexually transmitted infections, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the human papillomavirus (HPV), disproportionally impact those in low-resource settings. Early diagnosis is essential for managing HIV. Similarly, HPV causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer, the majority (90%) of which occur in low-resource settings.

Iron oxide xerogels for improved water quality monitoring of arsenic(III) in resource-limited environments solid-phase extraction, preservation, storage, transportation, and analysis of trace contaminants (SEPSTAT).

Arsenic is a widespread trace groundwater contaminant that presents a range of health risks and has an acceptable level of only 10 μg L-1 in drinking water. However, in many countries arsenic quantification in water is limited to centralized laboratories because it requires the use of elemental analysis techniques with high capital cost. As a result, routine water samples are frequently not tested for trace contaminants such as arsenic.

Solid-Phase Extraction, Preservation, Storage, Transport, and Analysis of Trace Contaminants for Water Quality Monitoring of Heavy Metals.

Accurate quantification of trace contaminants currently requires collection, preservation, and transportation of large volumes (250-1000 mL) of water to centralized laboratories, which impedes monitoring of trace-level pollutants in many resource-limited environments. To overcome this logistical challenge, we propose a new paradigm for trace contaminant monitoring based on dry preservation: solid-phase extraction, preservation, storage, transport, and analysis of trace contaminants (SEPSTAT). We show that a few grams of low-cost, commercially available cation exchange resin can be repurposed to extract heavy metal cations from water samples even in the presence of background ions, dryly preserve these cations for at least 24 months, and release them by acid elution for accurate quantification.

Fieldwork-based determination of design priorities for point-of-use drinking water quality sensors for use in resource-limited environments.

Improved capabilities in microfluidics, electrochemistry, and portable assays have resulted in the development of a wide range of point-of-use sensors intended for environmental, medical, and agricultural applications in resource-limited environments of developing countries. However, these devices are frequently developed without direct interaction with their often-remote intended user base, creating the potential for a disconnect between users' actual needs and those perceived by sensor developers. As different analytical techniques have inherent strengths and limitations, effective measurement solution development requires determination of desired sensor attributes early in the development process.

In-field determination of soil ion content using a handheld device and screen-printed solid-state ion-selective electrodes.

Small-holding farmers in the developing world suffer from sub-optimal crop yields because they lack a soil diagnostic system that is affordable, usable, and actionable. This paper details the fabrication and characterization of an integrated point-of-use soil-testing system, comprised of disposable ion-selective electrode strips and a handheld electrochemical reader. Together, the strips and reader transduce soil ion concentrations into to an alphanumeric output that can be communicated via text message to a central service provider offering immediate, customized fertilizer advisory.

Measurement of lipid accumulation in Chlorella vulgaris via flow cytometry and liquid-state ¹H NMR spectroscopy for development of an NMR-traceable flow cytometry protocol.

In this study, we cultured Chlorella vulgaris cells with a range of lipid contents, induced via nitrogen starvation, and characterized them via flow cytometry, with BODIPY 505/515 as a fluorescent lipid label, and liquid-state 1H NMR spectroscopy. In doing so, we demonstrate the utility of calibrating flow cytometric measurements of algal lipid content using triacylglyceride (TAG, also known as triacylglycerol or triglyceride) content per cell as measured via quantitative 1H NMR. Ensemble-averaged fluorescence of BODIPY-labeled cells was highly correlated with average TAG content per cell measured by bulk NMR, with a linear regression yielding a linear fit with r2 = 0.

Detection of algal lipid accumulation due to nitrogen limitation via dielectric spectroscopy of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii suspensions in a coaxial transmission line sample cell.

In this study, dielectric characterization of algae cell suspensions was used to detect lipid accumulation due to nitrogen starvation. Wild-type Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CC-125) was cultivated in replete and nitrogen-limited conditions in order to achieve a range of lipid contents, as confirmed by Nile Red fluorescence measurements. A vector network analyzer was used to measure the dielectric scattering parameters of a coaxial region of concentrated cell suspension.