Portable Colorimetric Device with Commercial Microplates for Quantitative Detection of Urine Biomarkers: Design, Development, and Clinical Evaluation

Urine biomarkers are important in monitoring diseases related to human kidney function. The current processes for measuring biomarker levels in urine samples require patients to regularly visit clinical facilities, which is inconvenient and sometimes impossible for patients in rural areas. Therefore, portable analysis devices for the measurement of urine biomarkers are urgently requested. In this study, a portable platform using colorimetry, a common and simple-to-operate chemical analysis technique, was developed to measure urine biomarkers. The device, using commercial test kits as recognising reagents and a 96-well microplate as a solution container, provides quantitative measures of biomarker concentration. Moreover, the proposed device introduces a calibration method to minimise the dependence of regular maintenance. The device’s performance was evaluated with urine from 73 renal patients and its results matched with clinical results well. The device has the potential for measuring urine creatinine, in addition to performing a variety of commercial assays for biomarker detection in human body fluids in general.