Master Thesis Project in Paper-Based Diagnostics

Digital diagnostics are a relatively new technology where tens of thousands of independent tests are done in tiny constrained areas and read as either a true or false and then interpreted together using Poisson statistics to infer disease markers like viral load. They are ultra-sensitive and have lower limits of detection than other technologies.

Diagnosis is a key step in the treatment process, and improving diagnostic technology has shown outsized positive effects in personal health and population health (a lesson underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic). However, recent gains require robust infrastructure and thus have disproportionately benefited developed countries.

This project maximizes impact by focusing on the translation of digital diagnostic techniques to paper-based microfluidic substrates for use in resource-constrained locations. Specifically, the focus is on the protein micropatterning to make the individual “compartments” which are key to the digital analysis. The student will extend work which was already done with streptavidin patterning to other proteins, testing both the pattern stamping parameters as well as the capacity of the deposited proteins to be functionalized for the biological assay.

Contact person: Nathan Khosla, Nathan.khosla@chem.ethz.ch

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