Smartphones to diagnose diseases soon
Researchers develop smartphone tool to help diagnose diseases in real time.
Researchers from University of Houston have developed a disease diagnostic system based on nanotechnology that will only require a smartphone and a Rs 1200 lens attachment to check for diseases.
The diagnostic system developed by Richard Willson and Jiming Bao relies on precise chemical interactions that form between a virus or bacteria and a disease-fighting antibody to form an iron-clad diagnosis.
The researchers used a simple glass slide and a thin film of gold with thousands of holes poked in it for the light to pass through. The system diagnoses an illness by blocking the light with a disease-antibody bond as well as a few additional ingredients. The researchers state that with a few changes, they can make similar readings with a smartphone’s camera, flash and an attachable lens. The system would be helpful to health care providers across the globe and will provide an affordable and ‘easy to read’ method to diagnose diseases.
“The trick is finding a way to detect these chemical interactions quickly, cheaply and easily. The device involves a simple glass slide and a thin film of gold with thousands of holes poked in it,” explained Jiming Bao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Houston.
“One of the advantages of this system is that the results can be read with simple tools,” said Richard Willson, Huffington-Woestemeyer professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Recently, Researchers at Cornell University developed a “smartCARD,” with sophisticated camera technology that can read out users cholesterol levels in just a minute. The device checks bio markers in the user’s blood and gets the results based on color analysis. The smartCARD checks the color values on the cholesterol test strip using the flash on the smartphones and the results are displayed on your smartphone’s screen.
Source: Medical News