Point-of-care in vitro diagnostics devices based on aggregation-induced emission biosensors: Current situation and future prospective

Over the last few decades, in vitro diagnostic (IVD) technologies have become powerful tools in diagnosing and monitoring diseases, providing prognosis, and predicting treatment response,, thanks to their convenient features, such as rapid results, increased patient comfort, simplicity, high portability, and cost-effectiveness [1, 2]. The testing targets of IVD methods are generally biological samples, comprising blood,sweat, saliva, skin tissues, and urine, which are diagnosed in a controlled environment, outside a living organism [1]. However, the traditional IVD tests are required to be performed in the laboratories with bulky and costly equipment, by professional staff. This requires the patients to visit the clinical facilities regularly, affecting their work routine, spending time for traveling and waiting for the test, as well as raising the cost to account for staff and facility’s maintenance. Additionally, Mayeux (2004) reported that the possibility of infection, ethical responsibility, and longevity of samples are critical issues for the collection, transport, and storage of biological samples for the laboratory-conditioned measurements [3]. Recently, the rapid development of technological innovations in the electronics and bio-chemical fields has shifted the biomarker monitoring from traditional laboratory conditions to more user-friendly point-of-care (POC) devices [4]. The POC devices help users to carry out the measurements outside the laboratory, which not only reduces the demand of visiting the healthcare facilities regularly, but also minimizes the potential spread of infection amongst the crowd of diseased individuals [5]. The development of POC IVD devices will help improve the quality of people’s healthcare activities.