A small plastic chip based on microfluidics and nanotechnology can reliably diagnose HIV and syphilis within 15 minutes, and costs just 10 cents to make. The system, which was developed by Samual Sia and collaborators at Columbia University, United States, is designed for use in resource-poor settings. Conventional rapid diagnostic tests for HIV and other infections are not typically used in resource-poor areas, such as parts of Africa, because they are complicated to read and expensive to use. Sia’s team designed their chip to be inexpensive to make and easy to read, and additional tests, for diseases like hepatitis or malaria, could be added to the chip without a significant increase in cost. The system has no moving parts, and requires no electricity or external instrumentation, and needs very little blood. A simple optical sensor gives the test results. The initial focus for the device will be for prenatal clinics. According to Sia, “If you catch the diseases in mothers, you can prevent transmission to newborn, increasing clinical impact.” Syphilis testing in mothers and pregnant women could reduce the number of years lost due to ill health, disability, or early death by 200,000 in Rwanda, according to research. The team’s next step is to find funding to develop the device into a commercial product. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/38201/