ABSTRACT
There is an escalating necessity to augment our competences to diagnose infectious diseases early and precisely. The current methods of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibody-based diagnostics offer quick and accurate results, but their widespread use/deployment is hindered by the need for sophisticated instrumentations and highly skilled technicians. The unique rationale and quick production properties offered by synthetic biology, coupled with the latest bio-molecular engineering approaches, have presented encouraging results that can be utilized towards the production of new modularities of low-cost and field-deployable diagnostics. Here, we present and discuss an overview of synthetic biology-inspired solutions for in vitro diagnostics and the efforts made towards the translation of these promising solutions into a pragmatic diagnostic technology such as a paper-based platform that offers cost-effective distribution and utilization in low-resource settings. The synthetic biology field is also moving toward in vivo diagnostics, where real-time surveillance of multiple pathogens is possible. Through examples, the power of synthetic biology-based solutions is highlighted to overcome the inadequacies of presently used diagnostic methods in disease detection.
