Integrated device for plasma separation and nucleic acid extraction from whole blood toward point-of-care detection of bloodborne pathogens†

Sample preparation presents a major challenge in point-of-care (POC) diagnostic assays, including ones requiring whole blood as the starting specimen. This study presents an integrated sample preparation device – which we call PRECISE – that performs both plasma separation and nucleic acid extraction, enabling streamlined sample preparation from whole blood requiring only a commercially available blood collection tool and a syringe, and no other external equipment or electricity. Plasma separation is performed using a dual-membrane filter (which filters out blood components while limiting membrane clogging) integrated into the cartridge, and nucleic acid extraction is performed by users moving magnets (to mix the samples, and along a guided track). The plasma filtration demonstrated recovery on par with lab-based centrifugation, and the extraction module showed performance similar to benchtop-based magnetic bead extraction. A sample-to-result demonstration on 50 μL of whole blood spiked with virions of hepatitis C virus (HCV), operating the PRECISE cartridge in 16 minutes followed by benchtop PCR, showed a limit of detection (∼6770 IU mL⁻¹) on the order of the minimal requirements of target product profile for POC HCV detection. Future work on the PRECISE cartridge, building on POC accessibility and fast sample preparation demonstrated in this work, may enable detection of bloodborne pathogens from whole-blood specimens collected at the POC.