Simple and sensitive nucleic acid-based molecular detection plays a crucial role in the early diagnosis of infectious diseases and the rapid screening of cancers.  CRISPR technology has recently emerged as a powerful biosensing tool for point of care molecular diagnostics when coupled with microfluidics technology. In this talk, I will present the recent development of combining CRISPR technology with microfluidic technology for detection of different pathogens. I will also introduce our effort in developing low-cost CRISPR-based microfluidic biosensing systems, enabling simple, rapid, minimally-instrumented, molecular diagnostics at the point of care.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Discuss current challenges in developing simple and rapid nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics.

2. Introduce recent development of CRISPR-based molecular diagnostic technologies and microfluidic biosensing.

3. Propose CRISPR-based microfluidic biosensing systems for molecular detection at the point of care.