{
  "abstract": "Skin fungal infections present a significant global disease burden worldwide and are difficult to treat owing to their frequent recurrence. To date, we have witnessed significant advancements in the fungi detection using molecular methods, yet little attention has been given to the standard clinical practice of sample collection through skin scraping, which is operator and skill dependent and only limited to the surface. In this study, we evaluated the clinical utility of a previously reported sampling tool—microprojection array—as a minimally invasive sampling approach for molecular detection of fungi in patients with suspected skin infections. Skin samples collected using scrapes were similarly processed in comparison. Detection using pan-fungal qPCR enabled differentiation between samples infected with Trichophyton and those infected with Candida, whereas metagenomic sequencing analysis provided more detailed species-level identification—particularly for C albicans—and demonstrated greater sensitivity than microscopy and culture. Among clinically positive samples, both sampling methods showed comparable relative abundance profiles. Nevertheless, we observed variations in the detection of certain species between the 2 sampling approaches, which suggests possible differences in the spatial distribution of these fungi. Overall, the findings demonstrated the feasibility of combining microprojection array–based transepidermal sampling with established molecular detection methods to facilitate clinical fungal diagnosis.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Republic of Singapore",
    "A∗STAR Skin Research Labs (A∗SRL), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore",
    "Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS), Singapore, Republic of Singapore",
    "National Skin Centre, Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore",
    "College of Pharmacy, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Kun Liang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Larissa Lim"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Amelia Yuting Monteiro"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Hui Mei Cheng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jia Min Loh"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Larry Dawson"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Cheryl Leong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Hong Liang Tey"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ebjepxnvjqy7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13735249/",
  "id": "3ebjepxnvjqy7",
  "issns": [
    "2667-0267"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Original Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2708|Nail Diseases and Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214422557",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.jidinnovations.org/article/S2667-0267(26)00100-1/pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13735249",
  "pmid": "42991128",
  "published": "2026-09-26",
  "publisher": "Elsevier",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ebjepxnvjqy7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:20:58Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13735249",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2708|Nail Diseases and Treatments",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A simple and minimally invasive device for skin sampling and molecular detection in cutaneous fungal infections",
  "title_text": "A simple and minimally invasive device for skin sampling and molecular detection in cutaneous fungal infections",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:20:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3ebjepxnvjqy7",
  "venue": "JID Innovations",
  "versions": []
}