PRATIK SHAH

Detecting Biomarkers with Printable Paper Diagnostics

Paper diagnostics can be used for affordable and scalable biomarker detection. We propose new methods for stabilizing cellulose-based immunoassays, leading to a low-cost paper diagnostic assay for the detection of oral disease biomarkers in human saliva.

Why is this work important?

Low-cost detection of biomarkers associated with the majority of diseases is not feasible.

What has been done before?

Paper-based assays have been used to detect biomarkers in human serum or blood. The paper-based detection of biomarkers in saliva has not been extensively studied.

What are our contributions?

We propose methods for stabilizing paper-based immunoassays for robust and low-cost detection of salivary biomarkers. This method is low-cost and can facilitate rapid detection of oral biomarkers. We specifically describe the detection of biomarkers associated with oral diseases, MMP-8 and -9.

What are the next steps?

Assay biomarkers in serum and blood.

Dr. Pratik Shah

Dr. Pratik Shah

Faculty Member

Other Contributors

MIT Chemical Engineering

Emma H. Yee,

Shefali Lathwal,

Dr. Hadley D. Sikes