Airborne Biomarker Localization Engine (ABLE) for Open Air Point-of-Care Detection

TL;DR

ABLE is a portable, affordable system that enhances detection of airborne biomarkers by concentrating dilute gases into droplets, enabling rapid, sensitive, and accessible open-air biosensing for health and safety applications.

Contribution

Introduces ABLE, a novel portable platform that improves airborne biomarker detection through water condensation, making it accessible and effective for various open-air biosensing uses.

Findings

ABLE achieves detection in about 15 minutes.

Water condensation concentrates biomarkers for easier detection.

Stable condensate-trapped biomarkers enable reliable sensing.

Abstract

Unlike biomarkers in biofluids, airborne biomarkers are dilute and difficult to trace. Detecting diverse airborne biomarkers with sufficient sensitivity typically relies on bulky and expensive equipment like mass spectrometers that remain inaccessible to the general population. Here, we introduce Airborne Biomarker Localization Engine (ABLE), a simple, affordable, and portable platform that can detect both volatile, non-volatile, molecular, and particulate biomarkers in about 15 minutes. ABLE significantly improves gas detection limits by converting dilute gases into droplets by water condensation, producing concentrated aqueous samples that are easy to be tested. Fundamental studies of multiphase condensation revealed unexpected stability in condensate-trapped biomarkers, making ABLE a reliable, accessible, and high-performance system for open-air-based biosensing applications such as non-contact infant healthcare, pathogen detection in public space, and food safety.