Two new diagnostic techniques for detecting opioid compounds, in adults and in infants, could help health care workers more effectively treat conditions related to opioid exposure, Brown researchers say. 

In a study published in Scientific Reports, the researchers describe a method that can rapidly detect six different opioid compounds from a tiny amount of serum—no more than a finger prick. 

The second study, published in SLAS Technology, demonstrates a method for detecting opioids in dried blood spots, which are routinely collected from newborns nationwide. The technique could enable a first-of-its-kind quantitative method for assessing opioid exposure in newborns. 

The research was led by Ramisa Fariha ScM’20 PhD’24, a molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry postdoc who performed the work while completing her doctorate in biomedical engineering. She hopes the findings will spur real-world application in opioid treatment. “This wasn’t about creating another lab tool,” Fariha says. “It was about reimagining what’s possible at the point of care. We were responding to a void that was always there, and we wanted to address it.” 

Fariha collaborated with Carolina Haass-Koffler, PhD, PharmD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior and of behavioral and social sciences, who wanted to find a more reliable test for opioid exposure. Fariha and other engineers developed an assay that could accurately quantify six different opioids using a sample of just 20 microliters—less than a single drop—of serum. 

Haass-Koffler then integrated the microsampling method into an ongoing clinical trial, which assesses the use of oxytocin as a complement to opioid agonist therapy. This enhanced detection capability helped her team demonstrate that administering oxytocin can be a valuable tool in reducing opioid use among people with opioid use disorder. 

The researchers next wanted to see if a similar test would work for neonatal abstinence syndrome, in which babies are born with symptoms of opioid withdrawal. There is no standard blood test for opioids in infants; diagnosis is made by assessing a newborn’s symptoms and reviewing a mother’s opioid use history.  

“The idea behind this work was to come up with a diagnostic method that’s more quantitative,” Fariha says. 

The solution was a device that can extract potential opioid samples from dried blood spots, which are gathered shortly after birth from a small prick on a baby’s heel and sent to a lab for analysis. The technique successfully detects a range of opioids, the researchers found. Fariha hopes it could also guide treatment. 

“At its core, this work is about … designing diagnostic tools that are precise, scalable, and better aligned with the needs of real-world patients, especially in maternal and infant health,” she says.