ArticleNature communications2018
A low-cost paper-based synthetic biology platform for analyzing gut microbiota and host biomarkers.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
108 citing papers in PubMed, 241 citations in OpenAlex.
- Engineered bacteria in disease diagnosis and therapy: A synthetic biology perspective.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Review
- Detectrons convert transient RNA sequences into stable DNA barcodes for high-throughput analysis of RNA-dependent processes.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Enzymatic DNA Reaction Networks for Orchestrating Stimuli-Dependent Temporal Molecular Pulse.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Revolutionizing Healthcare With Paper-Based Nucleic Acid Testing.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2026Review
- Systematic Evaluation of Different Ribonucleoprotein Complexes as Posttranscriptional Biosensors in Cell-Free TX-TL Systems.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
- Trends of nucleic acid - based point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases.Journal of biological engineering · 2026Review
- De novo-designed ribozyme-controlled riboregulator for cell-free diagnostics.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Genomic diversity analysis enables development of pan-Dengue Toehold RNA sensors.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Cas12a-Programmed Modular CRISPR Cascade Reaction on Paper Supports for Dual-Mode Detection of Pathogenic Genomes.ACS sensors · 2026Article
- Programming Next-Generation Synthetic Biosensors by Genetic Circuit Design.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- The Current Landscape of Microbial Biomarkers in Gastrointestinal Disease.Gastroenterology clinics of North America · 2026Review
- Toehold-VISTA: a machine learning approach to decipher programmable RNA sensor-target interactions.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- SUPER: Upcycling Genetic Parts for Precise Gene Expression Control, Leakage Minimization, and Genetic Circuit Stability.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Mitigating the deleterious impact of saliva on cell-free expression sensors for point-of-use diagnostics.Synthetic biology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Synthetic toehold biosensors for detectingFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Automated and Programmable Cell-Free Systems for Scalable Synthetic Biology with a Focus on Biofoundry Integration.Journal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Gene circuit-based sensors.Fundamental research · 2025Review
- Improving engineered biological systems with electronics and microfluidics.Nature biotechnology · 2025Review
- Detection of TuMV by a toehold switch sensor coupled with NASBA amplification in Pseudostellaria heterophylla.Plant methods · 2025Article
- CRISPR-Responsive Reprogrammable Label-Free Fluorescent Nanoclusters for ML-Assisted Pathogenic Genome Detection on Solid Substrates.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
There is a need for large-scale, longitudinal studies to determine the mechanisms by which the gut microbiome and its interactions with the host affect human health and disease. Current methods for profiling the microbiome typically utilize next-generation sequencing applications that are expensive, slow, and complex. Here, we present a synthetic biology platform for affordable, on-demand, and simple analysis of microbiome samples using RNA toehold switch sensors in paper-based, cell-free reactions. We demonstrate species-specific detection of mRNAs from 10 different bacteria that affect human health and four clinically relevant host biomarkers. We develop a method to quantify mRNA using our toehold sensors and validate our platform on clinical stool samples by comparison to RT-qPCR. We further highlight the potential clinical utility of the platform by showing that it can be used to rapidly and inexpensively detect toxin mRNA in the diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infections.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.