Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a promising technique for field-based DNA testing technology. For an overview of the technique, see FAN’s Analytical Explainers pages.
Despite this promise, LAMP has found very few routine applications. This review (open access) discusses the reasons for this and makes recommendations for how LAMP applications should be developed and deployed in the future.
The authors argue that the research prioritisation of accelerated amplification kinetics and ultralow detection limits has obscured a critical limitation: insufficient detection reliability when deployed in complex field environments.
Their review consolidates state-of-the-art advances targeting reliability optimization and delineates key technical strategies to construct robust, improved-reliability LAMP platforms for real-food testing. They summarize critical factors at the reaction and readout levels that compromise the reliability of LAMP under realistic scenarios, such as inexperienced operators, degraded samples, matrices containing inhibitory substances, and uncontrolled environments. They suggest solutions to bridge the reliability gap between laboratory validation and on-site deployment. These solutions entail coordinated technical improvements throughout the full LAMP testing pipeline.
The authors propose a forward-looking developmental principle for next-generation LAMP assays. Analytical reliability and operational robustness should be elevated to equal priority alongside the traditionally pursued goals of ultra-rapid amplification and high sensitivity.
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