Classical gold standard HBV detection relies on expensive devices and complicated procedures, thus is always restricted in large-scale hospitals and centers for disease control and prevention. To extend HBV detection to primary clinics especially in underdeveloped areas, we design amplification-free smartphone-based attomolar HBV detecting technique based on single molecule sensing. Verified by synthesized HBV target DNA , this technique reaches a detection limit at attomolar concentration (100 aM); and verified by 110 clinical samples, it also reaches a rather high sensitivity of 10 4 copy/mL (≈2000 IU/mL) with a high accuracy of 93.64% certificated by gold standard HBV detecting devices. Besides, this technique can quantify HBV viral load in 70 min only using portable and inexpensive devices as well as simple operations. Because of its cost-effective, field-portable and operable design, highly sensitive and selective detecting capability and wireless data connectivity, this technique can be potentially used in mobile HBV diagnoses and share HBV epidemic information especially in resource limited situations.
Solid-state nanopores have been proven as a powerful platform for label-free single-molecule analysis. However, due to its relatively low resolution and selectivity, developing biosensors with good translocation signals faces two significant challenges: (1) small-sized chemical or biological targets show difficulty in producing recognizable translocation signals because of their weak interaction with the nanopore and (2) protein interferents that widely exist in biological samples or buffers would considerably deteriorate the noise level of the nanopore, submerging the translocation signal. Herein, we demonstrate an effective way to overcome both the challenges. DNA cubes were used as signal transducers that can achieve an ultra-high (>50 : 1) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) translocation signal, which is maintained even in protein interferent-rich buffers. A sensing strategy was constructed via hepatitis B virus (HBV) target-triggered cleavage of the component elements of the DNA cube with the assistance of the CRISPR–Cas12a technology, which caused a great drop in the translocation rate. The elements to cleave were optimized, and the sensor performance was tested in different protein stabilizer-rich buffers and human serum. Coupling with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) pre-amplification technology, HBV-positive or -negative classification was achieved with the detection limit reaching 5 aM. It is worth noting that in our method, all reaction buffers were directly used without further optimization, which is of great help for the practical application of solid-state nanopores.