Credit Card Size Lab Can Diagnose HIV and Syphilis
The mChip is a portable blood diagnostic lab size of a credit card that can now accurately measure and give diagnostic results for HIV and Syphilis within minutes.
Diagnostic equipment are large and expensive, most blood tests take several hours to days to provide accurate results. The mChip has the power of a full blood test lab and can give results within 15 minutes.
As noted in The Journal Nature Medicine, researcher’s field tested this micro laboratory in Rwanda and found that the mChip is able to diagnose HIV and Syphilis results from 1 micro liter of blood with 100% accuracy. This is on par with standard laboratory tests. The mChip has a micro channel design using manipulation of small amounts of fluid and nanoparticles.
"The new low cost diagnostic mChip could revolutionize medical care around the world," said Sia, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering who developed the mChip.
mChip uses small amounts of fluid and nanoparticles to produce a functioning low-cost diagnostic device in resource limited settings. The chip cost around $1.00 to produce.
Now a single tiny finger prick gives enough blood for adults and children to be tested for multiple diseases in a timely and cost-effective method.
"The idea is to make a large class of diagnostic tests accessible to patients in any setting in the world, rather than forcing them to go to a clinic to draw blood and then wait days for their results," states Sia.