Recently, a paper published by Jie Hu from BEBC was selected in the 100 International Influential Research Papers from China. The paper entitled "Advances in paper-based point-of-care diagnostics" was published on Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 2014, 54, 585-597.

Abstract

Advanced diagnostic technologies, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), have been widely used in well-equipped laboratories. However, they are not affordable or accessible in resource-limited settings due to the lack of basic infrastructure and/or trained operators. Paper-based diagnostic technologies are affordable, user-friendly, rapid, robust, and scalable for manufacturing, thus holding great potential to deliver point-of-care (POC) diagnostics to resource-limited settings. In this review, we present the working principles and reaction mechanism of paper-based diagnostics, including dipstick assays, lateral flow assays (LFAs), and microfluidic paperbased analytical devices (μPADs), as well as the selection of substrates and fabrication methods. Further, we report the advances in improving detection sensitivity, quantification readout, procedure simplification and multi-functionalization of paper-based diagnostics, and discuss the disadvantages of paperbased diagnostics. We envision that miniaturized and integrated paper-based diagnostic devices with the sample-in-answer-out capability will meet the diverse requirements for diagnosis and treatment monitoring at the POC.