Complex medical test made from paper and tape for three cents
source: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/harvard-chemist.html
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- lvp
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A sophisticated medical test that checks for dozens of diseases at the same time can be made from little more than paper and double-sided tape, bringing the cost within reach for the developing world.
The devices, known as microfluidics chips, operate much like a home pregnancy test, in which liquid creeps up a cellulose strip toward a color-changing line. But unlike the pregnancy test, these new chips can split a single stream of liquid into dozens of channels. Each of those canals could be used to perform a different diagnosis for diseases such as HIV, dengue fever or hepatitis.
With a bit more work, the Harvard University chemists who devised the paper test could build a user-friendly, multi-layered microfluidics device with raw materials that cost roughly three cents.
The devices, known as microfluidics chips, operate much like a home pregnancy test, in which liquid creeps up a cellulose strip toward a color-changing line. But unlike the pregnancy test, these new chips can split a single stream of liquid into dozens of channels. Each of those canals could be used to perform a different diagnosis for diseases such as HIV, dengue fever or hepatitis.
With a bit more work, the Harvard University chemists who devised the paper test could build a user-friendly, multi-layered microfluidics device with raw materials that cost roughly three cents.
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- groups:
- Tech, Green, Earth and Science, Health
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- Green, Tech, Earth and Science, Health, 4 more
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marboss
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this would surely benefit areas that are suffering from more than one epidemic, like HIV and malaria in subsaharran africa
- 3 years ago
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marboss
