ABSTRACT
It is widely recognized that interdisciplinary research (IR) is an important tool in facilitating the development of efficient solutions to address current societal challenges. Recent developments, compounded by the global covid-19 pandemic, have boosted the use of mobile technology to deliver health interventions remotely using digital technologies. This work presents a reusable software platform designed to facilitate the implementation and delivery of digital interventions delivered through mobile applications. The platform is composed of three main elements: (i) a central server-side application for secure data storage, (ii) a customizable mobile app for data collection, and (iii) a customizable web portal for administrative use and data analysis. The implemented platform was evaluated in two pilot studies delivered in parallel during the pandemic: an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention in women with Vulvodynia, and a study on air quality perception. Results on measured adherence confirm how digital platforms can support the delivery of remote interventions. Two groups, totaling 31 participants, were recruited for the two studies. Collected adherence data and feedback from participants were mostly positive with 88% of positive feedback. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
It is widely recognized that interdisciplinary research (IR) is an important tool in facilitating the development of efficient solutions to address current societal challenges. Recent developments, compounded by the global covid-19 pandemic, have boosted the use of mobile technology to deliver health interventions remotely using digital technologies. This work presents a reusable software platform designed to facilitate the implementation and delivery of digital interventions delivered through mobile applications. The platform is composed of three main elements: (i) a central server-side application for secure data storage, (ii) a customizable mobile app for data collection, and (iii) a customizable web portal for administrative use and data analysis. The implemented platform was evaluated in two pilot studies delivered in parallel during the pandemic: an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention in women with Vulvodynia, and a study on air quality perception. Results on measured adherence confirm how digital platforms can support the delivery of remote interventions. Two groups, totaling 31 participants, were recruited for the two studies. Collected adherence data and feedback from participants were mostly positive with 88% of positive feedback. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The great majority of globally circulating pathogens go undetected, undermining patient care and hindering outbreak preparedness and response. To enable routine surveillance and comprehensive diagnostic applications, there is a need for detection technologies that can scale to test many samples1-3 while simultaneously testing for many pathogens4-6. Here, we develop Combinatorial Arrayed Reactions for Multiplexed Evaluation of Nucleic acids (CARMEN), a platform for scalable, multiplexed pathogen detection. In the CARMEN platform, nanolitre droplets containing CRISPR-based nucleic acid detection reagents7 self-organize in a microwell array8 to pair with droplets of amplified samples, testing each sample against each CRISPR RNA (crRNA) in replicate. The combination of CARMEN and Cas13 detection (CARMEN-Cas13) enables robust testing of more than 4,500 crRNA-target pairs on a single array. Using CARMEN-Cas13, we developed a multiplexed assay that simultaneously differentiates all 169 human-associated viruses with at least 10 published genome sequences and rapidly incorporated an additional crRNA to detect the causative agent of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. CARMEN-Cas13 further enables comprehensive subtyping of influenza A strains and multiplexed identification of dozens of HIV drug-resistance mutations. The intrinsic multiplexing and throughput capabilities of CARMEN make it practical to scale, as miniaturization decreases reagent cost per test by more than 300-fold. Scalable, highly multiplexed CRISPR-based nucleic acid detection shifts diagnostic and surveillance efforts from targeted testing of high-priority samples to comprehensive testing of large sample sets, greatly benefiting patients and public health9-11.
Subject(s)
CRISPR-Associated Proteins/metabolism , CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics , Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/methods , Virus Diseases/diagnosis , Virus Diseases/virology , Animals , Betacoronavirus/genetics , Betacoronavirus/isolation & purification , Drug Resistance, Viral/genetics , Genome, Viral/genetics , HIV/classification , HIV/genetics , HIV/isolation & purification , Humans , Influenza A virus/classification , Influenza A virus/genetics , Influenza A virus/isolation & purification , Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/instrumentation , RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida/genetics , SARS-CoV-2 , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
The emergence and outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has rapidly become a global concern and has highlighted the need for fast, sensitive, and specific tools to surveil circulating viruses. Here we provide assay designs and experimental resources, for use with CRISPR-based nucleic acid detection, that could be valuable for ongoing surveillance. We provide assay designs for detection of 67 viral species and subspecies, including: SARS-CoV-2, phylogenetically-related viruses, and viruses with similar clinical presentation. The designs are outputs of algorithms that we are developing for rapidly designing nucleic acid detection assays that are comprehensive across genomic diversity and predicted to be highly sensitive and specific. Of our design set, we experimentally screened 4 SARS-CoV-2 designs with a CRISPR-Cas13 detection system and then extensively tested the highest-performing SARS-CoV-2 assay. We demonstrate the sensitivity and speed of this assay using synthetic targets with fluorescent and lateral flow detection. Moreover, our provided protocol can be extended for testing the other 66 provided designs. Assay designs are available at https://adapt.sabetilab.org/.