Stress biomarker test for athletes with portable optical detector and functionalized quantum dots

We have developed a portable optical detector, known as the Transilluminated Quantum Dot (TIQD) imager and a highly accurate biochip for minimally invasive training load monitoring in sports, to track athlete’s stress and recovery cycles. The goal was to simultaneously detect critical stress markers in blood and saliva. In the procedure so far, blood samples are collected on-site, frozen, and transported to laboratories for conventional ELISA testing. This process is time-consuming and is prone to sample loss. Portable monitoring could provide faster and more cost-effective testing. The miniaturized optical detector and biochip described here represents a step towards this goal and might, in addition, enable rapid point-of-care medical diagnostics in the future. The system can be further developed and integrated with mobile phones to realize a low-cost, low-footprint, and yet reliable rapid tests for biomolecules relevant for self-monitoring and point-of-care (POC) diagnostics.