Smartphone lab assistant

The "laboratory on a smartphone" does tests for coronaviruses, HIV and depression

Georgy Golovanov, Hi-tech+

American engineers have developed a compact device the size of a credit card that connects to a smartphone and diagnoses infectious diseases like malaria, HIV, coronavirus, as well as depression and anxiety.

A system invented by experts from University of Cincinnati, consists of an ordinary smartphone, a portable diagnostic device and a set of disposable plastic laboratory plates with microchannels for collecting the patient's saliva. They are inserted into a slot in the device, which automatically sends data to the patient's attending physician through a special application, according to a press release from the UC smartphone lab delivers test results in 'spit' second.

Article by Ghosh et al. A new microchannel capillary flow assay (MCFA) platform with lyophilized chemiluminescence reagents for a smartphone-based POCT detecting malaria is published in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering – VM.

Plates with microchannels simulate the work of capillaries. One of them mixes samples with lyophilized antibody detectors. The other contains the same lyophilized luminescent material needed to read the results.  

The invention has already been tested on patients with malaria, but it can also diagnose other chronic or infectious diseases: HIV, Lyme disease, coronaviruses, as well as measure the level of stress-related hormones.

"Now it takes several hours or days to make a diagnosis in the laboratory, even when people have already developed symptoms. During this time, the disease can spread," explained Professor Chong An, the head of the team of scientists.

According to him, the new test is no less accurate than laboratory tests, cheap, and also easy to use – a laboratory assistant replaces a smartphone.

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