Surveilling and Tracking COVID-19 Patients Using a Portable Quantum Dot Smartphone Device

Yuwei Zhang; Ayden Malekjahani; Buddhisha N Udugama; Pranav Kadhiresan; Hongmin Chen; Matthew Osborne; Max Franz; Mike Kucera; Simon Plenderleith; Lily Yip; Gary D Bader; Vanessa Tran; Jonathan B Gubbay; Allison McGeer; Samira Mubareka; Warren C W Chan

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01280

Surveilling and Tracking COVID-19 Patients Using a Portable Quantum Dot Smartphone Device

Nano Lett. 2021 Jun 23;21(12):5209-5216. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01280. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Authors

Yuwei Zhang^{1

2}, Ayden Malekjahani^{3

2}, Buddhisha N Udugama^{3

2}, Pranav Kadhiresan^{3

2}, Hongmin Chen^{3

2}, Matthew Osborne^{3

2}, Max Franz², Mike Kucera², Simon Plenderleith⁴, Lily Yip⁴, Gary D Bader^{2

5

6

7

8}, Vanessa Tran^{9

10}, Jonathan B Gubbay^{9

10}, Allison McGeer^{5

11

12}, Samira Mubareka^{9

4}, Warren C W Chan^{1

3

2

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
² Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, 160 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada.
³ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 164 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9, Canada.
⁴ Biological Sciences, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.
⁵ Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Sinai Health System, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X5, Canada.
⁶ Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1A8, Canada.
⁷ Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2E4, Canada.
⁸ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2C1, Canada.
⁹ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada.
¹⁰ Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1M1, Canada.
¹¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada.
¹² Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai Hospital, Sinai Health System, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X5, Canada.
¹³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, 184 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada.

PMID: 34110166
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01280

Abstract

The ability to rapidly diagnose, track, and disseminate information for SARS-CoV-2 is critical to minimize its spread. Here, we engineered a portable smartphone-based quantum barcode serological assay device for real-time surveillance of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Our device achieved a clinical sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 100% for SARS-CoV-2, as compared to 34% and 100%, respectively, for lateral flow assays in a head-to-head comparison. The lateral flow assay misdiagnosed ∼2 out of 3 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. Our quantum dot barcode device has ∼3 times greater clinical sensitivity because it is ∼140 times more analytically sensitive than lateral flow assays. Our device can diagnose SARS-CoV-2 at different sampling dates and infectious severity. We developed a databasing app to provide instantaneous results to inform patients, physicians, and public health agencies. This assay and device enable real-time surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and potential immunity.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; database; immunoassay; multiplexing; quantum dot barcodes; real-time monitoring; serological testing; smartphone diagnostics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Immunoassay
Quantum Dots*
SARS-CoV-2
Sensitivity and Specificity
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Smartphone