New smartphone diagnostic device created
Researchers in the US have developed technology that enables smartphones to perform laboratory standard medical diagnostic tests.
Researchers in the US have developed technology that enables smartphones to perform laboratory standard medical diagnostic tests.
The spectral transmission-reflectance-intensity (TRI) Analyser attaches to a smartphone and is able to analyse patient blood, urine and saliva samples. They claim it is as reliable as highly expensive analytical machines while costing less than £500.
Swiss army knife
Professor Brian Cunningham, from the University of Illinois, said: “Our TRI Analyser is like the Swiss Army knife of biosensing. It's capable of performing the three most common types of tests in medical diagnostics, so in practice, thousands of already-developed tests could be adapted to it."The researchers used the analyser to perform two assays. The first assay to detect a biomarker associated with pre-term birth in women and the second, the PKU test, which detects enzymes essential for newborn normal growth and development. The test results were comparable to those acquired with clinically spectrometer instrumentation.
The analyser operates by converting the smartphone camera into a high-performance spectrometer. It illuminates a sample fluid with the phone’s internal white LED flash or an inexpensive external green laser diode. The light from the sample is collected by an optic fibre and guided through a diffraction grating into the phone’s rear-facing internal camera. These components are all arranged within a 3D printed plastic cradle.
Kenny Long, a PhD student and lead author of the research study, said: “The TRI Analyser is more of a portable laboratory than a specialised device.” The scientists could adapt the device to use the ELISA assay, which detects and measures a wide variety of proteins and antibodies in blood, due to the analyser’s ability to detecting light outputs.
Due to its portable size, multiple samples can be measured with the aid of a microfluidic cartridge that attached to the 3D printed plastic cradle. The analyser can also be applied to point of use applications such as animal health, environmental monitoring, drug testing, food safety and quality control. The paper was published in Lab on a Chip.
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