On the integration of printed electronics in fluid cartridges and lateral flow devices for point-of-care

Abstract

The use of non-invasive body fluid testing, such as the analysis of blood and urine, can greatly improve clinical decision making in a plethora of situations. It can support clinical triage in low resource settings that typically relies on fever and blood pressure measurements and questionnaires (indirect) as well as semi-quantitative point-of-care (POC) tests (direct). Both, indirect and direct assessments can be prone to misinterpretation. POC devices providing on the one hand fully quantitative measurements and on the other hand improved sensitivity can help closing this gap. We present two strategies enabling the use of printed electronics in POC devices for multiplexed and highly sensitive diagnostics.