In the past we have written about DVD-players being
developed to test for HIV, and how useful it would be if they entered the
market. Now it appears that another device is being developed that could help
diagnose chlamydia and gonorrhoea in 30 minutes.
The device recently won The Royal Academy of Engineering ERA
Foundation Entrepreneurs Award.
According to the inventor, the advice is able to detect
anomalies from a blood sample taken from a finger prick and works via a
low-cost, disposable microchip that sends ultrasonic waves across the
chip. The waves then agitate the blood
sample to perform various functions such as opening cells to release their DNA.
Although the chip enables multiple ways of agitating the sample, it appears to
only be able to do it for one pathogen at a time. However, it now hoped that the
investment received from The Royal Academy of Engineering will help the
inventor develop the device for multiple and simultaneous pathogen testing.
Once this is done, and if it is done
successfully, then it is expected to be another two years before the device
gets out on the market. You can read more about this development at The
Engineer website.