Lab in your cellphone
There are many healthcare problems in the developing countries, like lack of medical staff and equipment, and this is why I helped start the openECGproject. Now, a great concept to try an fix these problems is to utilize devices that are already present and hack them to be useful for patients. Devices like cellphones are a perfect example. And, this is exactly what the research team led by Dr. Aydogan Ozcan from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has done. They have developed an innovative lens-free technique for rapidly and accurately counting targeted cell types in a homogenous cell solution. Their vision is that individuals would one day be able to draw a blood sample into a chip the size of a U.S. quarter, which could then be inserted into a cell phone that would quickly identify and count the cells within the sample. The read-out could be sent wirelessly to a hospital for further analysis. This could have significant impact on medical diagnostic procedures related to health problems such as HIV or malaria.
Learn more from Wired.
Ivor Kovic
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