ArticleNew biotechnology2022
Towards detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in human saliva: A paper-based cell-free toehold switch biosensor with a visual bioluminescent output.
Article in New biotechnology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Extraoral Detection of Biomarkers and Pathogens in Saliva: Comprehensive, Panoramic Review.Biosensors · 2026Review
- Light-Activated Nucleic Acid Amplification Systems Using Photo-Caged DNA Polymerase or Primers.Advanced genetics (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Revolutionizing Healthcare With Paper-Based Nucleic Acid Testing.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2026Review
- 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
- Design-driven optimization of low-cost reagent formulations for reproducible and high-yielding cell-free gene expression.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Advancing NanoLuc Luciferase Stability beyond Directed Evolution and Rational Design through Expert-Guided Deep Learning.ACS catalysis · 2026Article
- Toehold-VISTA: a machine learning approach to decipher programmable RNA sensor-target interactions.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Mitigating the deleterious impact of saliva on cell-free expression sensors for point-of-use diagnostics.Synthetic biology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- One-pot cloning and protein expression platform for genetic engineering.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Recent Advances in Developing Cell-Free Protein Synthesis Biosensors for Medical Diagnostics and Environmental Monitoring.Biosensors · 2025Review
- A modular cell-free protein biosensor platform using split T7 RNA polymerase.Science advances · 2025Article
- Cell-Free Gene Expression: Methods and Applications.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- Improved RNA toehold switch sensitivity using the NanoLuc complementation reporter.microPublication biology · 2025Article
- Regulatory Components for Bacterial Cell-Free Systems Engineering.ACS synthetic biology · 2024Review
- A modular cell-free protein biosensor platform using split T7 RNA polymerase.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Toehold switch plus signal amplification enables rapid detection.Biotechnology journal · 2023Article
- Detection of viral RNAs at ambient temperature via reporter proteins produced through the target-splinted ligation of DNA probes.Nature biomedical engineering · 2023Article
- Harnessing synthetic biology for advancing RNA therapeutics and vaccine design.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2023Review
- Enabling technology and core theory of synthetic biology.Science China. Life sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the global demand for rapid, low-cost, widely distributable and point-of-care nucleic acid diagnostic technologies. Such technologies could help disrupt transmission, sustain economies and preserve health and lives during widespread infection. In contrast, conventional nucleic acid diagnostic procedures require trained personnel, complex laboratories, expensive equipment, and protracted processing times. In this work, lyophilized cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) and toehold switch riboregulators are employed to develop a promising paper-based nucleic acid diagnostic platform activated simply by the addition of saliva. First, to facilitate distribution and deployment, an economical paper support matrix is identified and a mass-producible test cassette designed with integral saliva sample receptacles. Next, CFPS is optimized in the presence of saliva using murine RNase inhibitor. Finally, original toehold switch riboregulators are engineered to express the bioluminescent reporter NanoLuc in response to SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences present in saliva samples. The biosensor generates a visible signal in as few as seven minutes following administration of 15 μL saliva enriched with high concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences. The estimated cost of this test is less than 0.50 USD, which could make this platform readily accessible to both the developed and developing world. While additional research is needed to decrease the limit of detection, this work represents important progress toward developing a diagnostic technology that is rapid, low-cost, distributable and deployable at the point-of-care by a layperson.
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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.