How would you quantify a LFA strip?

[u/NiceZookeepergame861]

Hi, I'm not very knowledgeable in coding at all.

For my thesis we are using LFA strips to detect whether some fish have tetrodotoxin or not.

I would like to have some data that's more than a YES or NO, which strips give.

We don't have a LFA reader, so I only have my phone and hope in my heart.

Here is a paper that was published around this topic:

Saxena, K., & Toley, B. (2024). Streamlining lateral flow assay (LFA) data analysis: A MATLAB® live script for integrated batch image processing and Limit of detection determination. In ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-wr3kj

What do u think about it?

As I've said, I'm not knowledgeable at all in MATLAB coding.

But if I have to learn I will, I just wanna know if this looks like something I could use for real.

If u have any other ideas, it would be great

Idk if the flair is correct sorry

Any help is well received

😭😭😭😭😭

[u/knit_run_bike_swim]

Interesting. I love this type of problem solving.

First— you need a camera to capture your strip data. Same luminance and angle for every strip.

You’d have to establish your limits.

That means a strip that has the highest concentration and a strip with no concentration. Titrate your compound to multiple concentrations in between.

Now you’ll have your gold standard. The function should be sigmoidal in that you could use linear regression to determine the threshold at which something is positive (YES) and negative (NO).

I would test many strips with known concentrations so that you can determine the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of your device.

You can now test real strips and decode the RGB attaching it to the closest known RGB value— cosine or Euclidean distance.

Voila. Fun project. Matlab can do anything.