Figure 5.

Assay optimization in the dipstick format to prepare for device integration. Optimization of wash steps (A) demonstrated that the second wash alone was sufficient for reducing background. Dilution of nasal swab samples (B) showed signal restoration after a 10-fold dilution of influenza negative nasal swabs spiked with influenza virus. 1X represents a swab diluted into 70 μL of PBS, the volume required to cover the entire swab. As the patient sample is diluted, signal begins to be restored at the 1/10X dilution, which translates to 700 μL of PBS. For comparison, nasal swabs are typically diluted in 3mL of a solution such as universal transfer medium (UTM) (42). Data points are mean ± standard deviation, n=4.