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Fully automated dried blood spot sample handling and extraction for serological testing of SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies
Author(s) -
Gaugler Stefan,
Sottas PierreEdouard,
Blum Katharina,
Luginbühl Marc
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
drug testing and analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.065
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1942-7611
pISSN - 1942-7603
DOI - 10.1002/dta.2946
Subject(s) - venipuncture , dried blood spot , serology , covid-19 , medicine , sampling (signal processing) , blood sampling , dried blood , virology , antibody , immunology , chromatography , computer science , pathology , surgery , chemistry , disease , filter (signal processing) , infectious disease (medical specialty) , computer vision
At the beginning of 2020, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) reached pandemic dimensions. Throughout the event, diagnostic tests function as an essential tool for understanding, mitigating, and implement strategies to curb and reduce infections. Here, we present a novel method for the fully automated dried blood spot (DBS) sample handling and extraction for serological testing of human IgG antibodies against SARS‐CoV‐2 using a commercial enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing kit. This proof‐of‐principle pilot study successfully demonstrates the recovery of antibodies in their intact form from DBS using automated, direct sample elution within 100 μl of extraction buffer. The use of minimally invasive DBS sampling provides an alternative to existing analytical procedures such as sampling by venipuncture or nasal swabs. Due to the ease of DBS collection, no third party need be involved, making at‐home sampling possible (e.g., during quarantine).