Handheld electrochemical workstation for serum albumin measurement

Abstract

This paper presents a novel handheld electrochemical workstation for serum albumin measurement. The system consists of a multi-path potentiostat module which performs electrochemical measurements on disposable test strip. The strip provides a port for applying blood sample. The test strip consists of 3 electrochemical cells for redundancy and parallel testing. The 3 sets of 3 electrodes (Working, Reference and Counter electrodes) are screen printed on a Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) substrate. The system provides the unique capability of performing Cyclic Voltammetry and Chrono Amperometry measurements in three parallel paths. The system is very generic and flexible, with user defined inputs for voltage, sweep rate and time through 5 inch capacitive touch screen. The experimental results can be stored on micro SD card and the data is accessible with USB or Bluetooth interface. This paper reports an extensive characterization of system through several tests conducted on standard redox solution. The system is then validated for human serum albumin measurement, using clinical samples. This is the first ever point of care handheld diagnostic device in the world for human serum albumin measurement.