3D-Printed Hollow Microneedle-Lateral Flow Devices for Rapid Blood-Free Detection of C-Reactive Protein and Procalcitonin

Hollow microneedle devices as a technology for interstitial fluid extraction show promise for the minimally invasive point-of-care detection of analytes. Despite increasing efforts toward on-patch diagnostics, the use of hollow microneedles has been limited due to the complexity caused by integrating hollow microneedles with established point-of-care diagnostic techniques. Herein, a 3D printing method is utilized, to provide low-cost manufacturing of custom-designed hollow microneedle devices, allowing for easy integration with lateral flow assays for rapid and blood-free diagnostics. Microneedle surface modification through PEGylation results in prolonged and enhanced hydrophilicity, enabling passive uptake of small volume samples (≈22.5 µL) and an enhanced shelf life. The hollow microneedle devices are deemed non-cytotoxic to cell types found within the skin following short-term and prolonged exposure in accordance with ISO10993. Furthermore, the devices demonstrate high mechanical strength and successfully penetrate porcine skin grafts without damaging the surrounding skin morphology. This work also demonstrates for the first time the use of hollow microneedles for the simultaneous detection, at clinically relevant concentrations, of C-reactive protein (LoD = 10 µg mL−1) and procalcitonin (LoD = 1 ng mL−1), through porcine skin, ultimately demonstrating the beneficial use of manufactured 3D-printed hollow microneedles towards low-cost blood-free diagnostics of inflammation markers

Rapid, low-input, low-bias construction of shotgun fragment libraries by high-density in vitro transposition

© The Authors, 2010. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Genome Biology 11 (2010): R119, doi:10.1186/gb-2010-11-12-r119.We characterize and extend a highly efficient method for constructing shotgun fragment libraries in which transposase catalyzes in vitro DNA fragmentation and adaptor incorporation simultaneously. We apply this method to sequencing a human genome and find that coverage biases are comparable to those of conventional protocols. We also extend its capabilities by developing protocols for sub-nanogram library construction, exome capture from 50 ng of input DNA, PCR-free and colony PCR library construction, and 96-plex sample indexing.This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (R01 HL094976 to JS), the National Institutes of Health/National Human Genome Research Institute (R21 HG004749 to JS), the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Northwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington (3U54AI05714), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, 863 program (2006AA02A301), and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (to JOK)

High COVID-19 transmission potential associated with re-opening universities can be mitigated with layered interventions

Reopening of universities to students following COVID-19 restrictions risks increased transmission due to high numbers of social contacts and the potential for asymptomatic transmission. Here, the authors use a mathematical model with social contact data to estimate the impacts of reopening a typical non-campus based university in the UK

Contacts and behaviours of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of the 2020/2021 academic year

University students have unique living, learning and social arrangements which may have implications for infectious disease transmission. To address this data gap, we created CONQUEST (COroNavirus QUESTionnaire), a longitudinal online survey of contacts, behaviour, and COVID-19 symptoms for University of Bristol (UoB) staff/students. Here, we analyse results from 740 students providing 1261 unique records from the start of the 2020/2021 academic year (14/09/2020–01/11/2020), where COVID-19 outbreaks led to the self-isolation of all students in some halls of residences. Although most students reported lower daily contacts than in pre-COVID-19 studies, there was heterogeneity, with some reporting many (median = 2, mean = 6.1, standard deviation = 15.0; 8% had ≥ 20 contacts). Around 40% of students’ contacts were with individuals external to the university, indicating potential for transmission to non-students/staff. Only 61% of those reporting cardinal symptoms in the past week self-isolated, although 99% with a positive COVID-19 test during the 2 weeks before survey completion had self-isolated within the last week. Some students who self-isolated had many contacts (mean = 4.3, standard deviation = 10.6). Our results provide context to the COVID-19 outbreaks seen in universities and are available for modelling future outbreaks and informing policy