Translating in vitro diagnostics from centralized laboratories to point-of-care locations using commercially-available handheld meters

There is a growing demand for high-performance point-of-care (POC) diagnostic technologies where in vitro diagnostics (IVD) is essential for prevention, identification, and treatment of many diseases. Over the past decade, a shift of IVDs from centralized laboratories to POC locations is emerging. In this review, we summarize recent progress in translating IVDs from centralized laboratories to POC locations using commercially available handheld meters. After introducing typical workflows for IVDs and highlighting innovative technologies in this area, we discuss advantages of using commercially available handheld meters for translating IVDs from centralized laboratories to POC locations. We then provide comprehensive coverage of different signal transduction strategies to repurpose the commercially-available handheld meters, including personal glucose meter, pH meter, thermometer and pressure meter, for detecting a wide range of targets by integrating biochemical assays with the meters for POC testing. Finally, we identify remaining challenges and offer future outlook in this area.