Who would have ever thought 20 years ago that we would have these pocket sized phones that literally did everything for us. We no longer need an alarm clock, a radio, a cd player, a calculator, a notebook, a laptop (for basic functions), a tv. All we need is our smartphone.
Thanks to the researchers at Columbia Engineering now you can use a low-cost dongle that can detect 2 markers from syphilis and one from HIV in only 15 minutes! It only requires as much blood as a glucose meter and it runs on power from your smartphone.
This dongle is basically a lab on a chip that is made up of a plastic cassette that houses the required reagents for the test. Similar to how glucose meters work a pin pricks worth of blood is drawn through microscopic channels and then interacts with the chemicals that react to the antibodies for HIV and syphilis and make the colors change. You then receive results sent via an app on the smartphone or computer.
This device will be particularly useful in remote locations that may not have electricity. It uses very little power. The movement of the blood in the channels is not electronic it done using vacuum power. It does however use an audio jack for power and the exchange of data. No outside power source is needed for this device and can be used with any compatible smartphone or computer.
A field test was conducted in Rwanda. Workers were given 30 minutes of training before testing 96 patients. The result was gold standard lab tests were able to correctly detect infection 92%-100% of the time. It did miss one case of syphilis and falsely diagnosed 14% of of the time.
This amazing invention only costs $34 to make, much cheaper than the traditionally required lab equipment ($20,000). The disposable cassettes for samples may only cost a few dollars as well.
A larger trial is in the works. Stay tuned!
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