A simple and minimally invasive device for skin sampling and molecular detection in cutaneous fungal infections
5 affiliations
- 1Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- 2A∗STAR Skin Research Labs (A∗SRL), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- 3Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS), Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- 4National Skin Centre, Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- 5College of Pharmacy, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), USA
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.
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BibTeX
@article{liang2026simple,
title = {{A simple and minimally invasive device for skin sampling and molecular detection in cutaneous fungal infections}},
author = {Kun Liang and Larissa Lim and Amelia Yuting Monteiro and Hui Mei Cheng and Jia Min Loh and Thomas Larry Dawson and Cheryl Leong and Hong Liang Tey},
journal = {JID Innovations},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A simple and minimally invasive device for skin sampling and molecular detection in cutaneous fungal infections
AU - Kun Liang
AU - Larissa Lim
AU - Amelia Yuting Monteiro
AU - Hui Mei Cheng
AU - Jia Min Loh
AU - Thomas Larry Dawson
AU - Cheryl Leong
AU - Hong Liang Tey
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
JO - JID Innovations
DO - 10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjidi.2026.100545
AB - 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.
SN - 2667-0267
ER -