Electrochemical detection of oxacillin resistance with SimpleStat: a low cost integrated potentiostat and sensor platform

Abstract

Testing outside the laboratory environment, such as point of care testing, is a rapidly evolving area with advances in the integration of sample handling, measurement and sensing elements widely reported. Low cost, simple to use systems are important in this context because they provide a route to devices that can be used outside the laboratory and could be implemented in low resource settings where advanced diagnostic testing is often unavailable. Here, we present an open source highly simplified electrochemical platform, called SimpleStat, that has been programmed to perform differential pulse voltammetry and can be used to detect the presence of OXA-1 DNA sequences for oxacillin resistance. This DNA sensor can be used to specifically detect the presence of the OXA-1 gene, contrasted to the tetA gene which encodes for tetracycline resistance. These measurements were performed with both polycrystalline gold electrodes as a benchmark and electrodes integrated into the SimpleStat printed circuit.