Mobile and Efficient Temperature and Humidity Control Chamber for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Abstract

Point-of-care (PoC) testing systems aim to bring affordable and convenient diagnostics to resource limited locations. In our previous work in detecting human papilloma virus (HPV) via lateral flow immunoassays and fluorescence detection, we determined that the performance of the assay depends on the temperature and humidity. Thus, we need to maintain a fixed environment for the assay to produce reliable results. Therefore, we define the need for a portable, climate-controlled chamber for field work in low resource settings. By combining low-cost electronics and household items, a simple feedback loop is designed to regulate the internal conditions of the testing environment. The ability of our chamber to maintain a desired climate will be tested for accuracy and stability to ensure that it is competent for in-field usage.