Having conducted our survey of the field, we narrowed our list of candidate molecular diagnostic platforms even further on the basis of the unique needs of our research study. As with clinical laboratories, we closely examined factors such as cost, feasibility, quality assurance, capital investment, platform versatility, and future utility. In contrast with clinical laboratories, we considered issues such as the rapid return of results or regulatory approval for use in patient care to be less crucial to our objectives. Moreover, our approach emphasized comprehensive pathogen detection, rather than focusing primarily on pathogens relevant for clinical management or infection control. Finally, our selected platform would be deployed in low-resource settings, where requirements for a reliable or continuous power supply, adequate access to reagents, sensitivity to extreme environmental conditions, and access to technical support would be highly relevant.