Basic and Affordable Device for Medical Testing

Basic and Affordable Device for Medical Testing

By Shinji Tutoru

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, MA, USA. A team of researchers has come up with a brilliant invention which could help rural communities around the world. It is an inexpensive apparatus used to monitor diabetes, identify pollution in the environment, and perform testing that can only be done by costly, hi-tech equipment.

This amazing breakthrough only costs around $25 and weighs just two ounces, making it a handy tool for anyone. The apparatus was created to be user-friendly and was made similar to a glucometer (device to check concentration of glucose in blood). It is used by administering a bit of electricity to a drop of blood with a reagent, and displays sugar levels on the device. Besides running tests, it also works by sending data over first generation mobile phones to physicians, and sending back instructions to researchers through text messaging. Many developing countries will benefit from this new technology. Since first generation mobile phones have limited data capabilities, researchers developed software that converts data to audible tones which is sent as a voice. This accommodates low-tech phones common in developing countries.

Alex Nemiroski says “There are two buttons. Select the test and press ‘go.’ It should be as much of a no-brainer as possible.” Nemiroski, a postdoctoral in the lab of Flowers University, working under Professor George Whitesides and lead author of the paper released just recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2011, he received his Doctorate in Applied Physics from Harvard. He led the team behind this great invention and collaborated with specialists in chemistry, biology, and other adjacent fields.

Presently, Nemiroski sent five devices in India for further testing and development. Hopefully, they can integrate it with more features and provide additional tests using the equipment. Nemiroski said that he believes there will be great need for this in the near future.

Invention Basic and Cheap Device for Medical Testing
Organization Harvard University
Researcher Alex Nemiroski & Team
Field(s) Medicine, medical test, diabetes, environment
Further Information http://phys.org/news/2014-08-cheap-compact-medical-simple-detector.html

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