Device for detecting a medical condition of a subject and method for manufacturing thereof

A device for detecting a medical condition of a subject from a menstrual blood sample collected from said subject, the device comprising:

• a sampling member comprising one or more crosslinked polymeric materials, the sampling member, when arranged to be in contact with the menstrual blood sample, collects and retains constituent biomolecules of the menstrual blood sample at the crosslinked polymeric materials to allow retention, preservation and stabilization of the collected biomolecules;
• wherein the one or more crosslinked polymeric materials comprise a synthetic crosslinked hydrophilic polyacrylic acid hydrogel material configured to absorb the menstrual blood sample and swell to retain water within the hydrogel to thereby prevent dehydration of the collected biomolecules for at least 48 hours at ambient condition;
• wherein the crosslinked hydrogel material is porous with pore sizes of about 20 μm to retain only specific biomolecules and to exclude microbes based on size to provide a microbial inhibitory effect;
• and wherein the synthetic crosslinked hydrophilic polyacrylic acid hydrogel material is negatively charged to inhibit microbial adhesion and growth;
• and
• a positioning member comprising an absorbing material, the positioning member being configured to support the sampling member;
• wherein the positioning member is releasably attachable to a substrate wearable by the subject;
• wherein the crosslinked polymeric materials are coupled, attached or conjugated with one or more biosensing molecules to thereby enable detection of targeted biomolecules specific to the biosensing molecules;
• and
• wherein the sampling member is configured such that, after collection, one or more types of the retained biomolecules are selectively elutable from the crosslinked polymeric materials by contacting the sampling member with an elution buffer having one or more predetermined conditions comprising pH, ionic strength, temperature, and/or an applied electric field.