Smartphone-based immunoassays

Smartphone (SP)-based bioanalytical devices and platforms have been employed for immunoassays to achieve superior bioanalytical performance, low cost, rapid response, and point-of-care (POC) diagnosis. Considering significant advances in SP-based in vitro diagnostics, SP-based immunoassays (SPIAs) would play a critical role in the near future in providing cost-effective mobile healthcare to remote, decentralized, and POC settings. They would be highly beneficial to the developing countries with limited access to basic healthcare services and resources. Various SP-based devices for immunoassays are based on optical detection, electrochemical detection, surface plasmon resonance, lateral flow assays, flow cytometry, and microscopy. Numerous SPIAs have been developed, using innovative diagnostic platforms and technologies, which enable the detection of biomarkers, biomolecules, metabolites, parasites, and pathogens. The coming years will witness an exponential growth in SPIAs and their increased market penetration and outreach. However, several concerns such as private health data and cloud services still need to be tackled.