Performance evaluation of a miniature 14-channel spectrometer for low-cost qPCR

Analytic instrumentation for biomedical research is typically too expensive for low-resource settings, which limits research capacity around the world. However, recent developments in ultra-miniature optical instrumentation provide the opportunity to re-think some types of lab equipment, such as quantitative PCR (qPCR) systems. qPCR depends on accurate measurement of weak fluorescent signals, and a new generation of low-cost, low-power miniature spectrometers may provide a solution for fluorescent acquisition during qPCR thermal cycling. In this study, we investigated the performance of a 14-channel spectrometer (AS7343, Osram) as a candidate for a data acquisition module in a low-cost qPCR system. Our investigations show that the device is linear over several orders of magnitude in irradiance and has appropriate spectral sensitivity to separate excitation and emission spectra for common qPCR intercalated dyes (such as SYBR Green).