Lab-on-a-Chip Performs Fast, Inexpensive Blood Tests

An engineering team has invented a lab-on-a-chip for fast, inexpensive blood tests.

Using the new technology, a drop of blood is placed on a plastic polymer cartridge smaller than a credit card and inserted into a shoebox-sized biosensor containing a miniature spectrometer and piezoelectric micro-pump. The blood travels through the cartridge in tiny channels 500 µm wide to a detection site where it reacts with preloaded reagents enabling the sensor to detect certain biomarkers of disease.

This system, created in the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI, USA), is much smaller, more portable, requires a smaller blood sample, and it is less expensive than similar devices in development elsewhere. The sensor costs about US$3,200, but each test costs only $1.50, which is the cost of the plastic cartridge and reagents.

"This development is a big step in point-of-care diagnostics, where testing can be performed in a clinic, in a doctor's office, or right at home," said Mohammad Faghri, URI professor of mechanical engineering and lead investigator of the project. "No longer will patients have to wait anxiously for several days for their test results. They can have their blood tested when they walk into the doctor's office and the results will be ready before they leave."

Additional cartridges can be designed to detect biomarkers of other diseases; scientists are trying to engineer the device to detect levels of the beta amyloid protein that can be used as a predictor of Alzheimer's disease. The device can also be engineered to detect virulent pathogens, including HIV, hepatitis B virus and Influenza A virus H1N1.

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University of Rhode Island