Samuel K Sia
Columbia University, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Medical tests are most useful when they give accurate answers quickly, cheaply and close to the patient, and when the devices themselves do not create lasting waste. The work tackles both needs for point-of-care diagnostics: a fast blood test for hepatitis C, and biodegradable plastics for microfluidic test devices, which move tiny volumes of fluid through small channels.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Materials Science
- Topics
point-of-care diagnostics
hepatitis C
plasmonic PCR
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2030
What they work on
- Integrate plasma filtration from whole blood and PRECISE magnetic bead nucleic-acid extraction with plasmonic PCR to create a sample-to-answer hepatitis C RNA test.
- Reach best-in-class performance for an HCV nucleic-acid test with about a 30-minute turnaround, using light-heated nanoparticles for rapid thermocycling, while also meeting cost targets.
- Develop simple, low-cost fabrication methods for degradable bioplastics suitable for building microfluidic diagnostic devices.
- Design device assembly strategies and demonstrate bioplastic microfluidic devices in diagnostic assays, with suitable degradability at the end of use.
More about the research
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is curable with direct-acting antivirals in over 95% of cases. Yet about 40% of infected people do not know they have it. Diagnosis usually takes two steps: an antibody screen, then a slower, costly RNA test, so many patients are lost before treatment. The lab has developed plasmonic PCR. In this method, nanoparticles absorb infrared light and heat the sample from the inside, which speeds up the temperature cycling that copies viral genetic material. The team has shown that it can detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva and nasal swabs within 25 minutes, with accurate real-time quantification. This project combines plasmonic PCR with filtering plasma from whole blood and with PRECISE, the lab's magnetic bead method for extracting nucleic acids. The goal is a sample-to-answer HCV RNA test with a 30-minute target. It is aimed at community health settings so patients can be diagnosed and treated in one visit, with cost included in the design targets.
Why it matters
A rapid, low-cost, single-visit HCV test could help many unaware patients start curative treatment. It could also reduce loss to follow-up in community clinics in the U.S. and in low- and middle-income countries. Degradable bioplastic devices could cut the plastic waste from the growing use of point-of-care tests.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sally McFall
Northwestern University, IL·Biomedical Engineering
Develop a DASH platform test that detects hepatitis C viral RNA from a fingerstick blood sample in 15 minutes, so active infection can be diagnosed in a single step without a laboratory.
Saurabh Mehta
Cornell University, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Enable testing of point-of-care diagnostic devices on human samples and patients by providing access to biobanks and diverse patient groups at partner sites in New York, Uganda, Ecuador and India.
Weihua Guan
Indiana University, IN·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Develop a single-tube multiplex recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay that copies several respiratory pathogen targets at once with balanced amplification and minimal cross-reactivity.
The school
Columbia University: 89 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 625 research doctorates a year.
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