I've blogged a couple times about some new technology known as Lab-on-a-chip. Currently in development this product will allow cheaper blood diagnostics. A Forbes article I read years ago speculated that eventually we'd have dozens or hundreds of tests on a single silicon chip for pennies and you could run tests every day, at the same time you take your vitamins. There are a number of dieases and conditions that if you catch them early are much more manageable.
A lab-on-a-chip for fast, inexpensive blood tests provides an update on the current state of the technology. It starts with:
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We’ve all experienced the frustrating experience of waiting hours at a doctor’s office, only then to go into a room with a nurse and have to give a test tube of blood. Your blood is then sent to a lab for tests. Again, you wait days for the results. Enough of the waiting game.
The good news? The slow diagnosis process might soon change, thanks to a certain lab-on-chip technology that has been developed in a lab in Rhode Island.
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Later in the article it reports on some costs associated with this:
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The sensor costs $3,200 and the tests cost $1.50.
The $1.50 price covers the cost of the credit-card sized cartridge and reagents that are needed to perform the test.
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The $3,200 price is a bit steep, but I'm confident that over time, as demand increases and the technology improves, the price will fall.
Maybe it won't be too long before I'll be doing my daily blood test.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lab on a chip. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lab on a chip. Sort by date Show all posts
Friday, January 21, 2011
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Lab on a chip is getting closer to reality
I first blogged about a Lab on a Chip technology over eight years ago in Soon will we be taking a daily blood test with our vitamins?
I am excited to see that this is getting closer to reality.
Printed ‘lab on a chip’ costs a penny and catches disease early reports that scientists are getting closer to making this real. The article starts with:
Your diagnostic kit is downloading. A “lab on a chip” system costs less than a penny to make and can test cell samples for diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cancer.
The technology could help with early detection of diseases in the developing world, where lack of access to equipment can lead to late diagnosis. “You can use it anywhere, as long as you have a printer,” says Rahim Esfandyarpour at Stanford University, who led the team that created the chips.
Each chip consists of a clear silicone chamber that houses a sample of cells for testing and a reusable electronic strip. The electronic strip can be printed onto flexible sheets of polyester using a regular inkjet printer and conductive nanoparticle ink. Users can download different designs for the strip, which let it test for different things. The whole printing process takes just 20 minutes.
I think this will be a huge benefit to health care. There are so many diseases which can be treated when caught early.
I am excited to see that this is getting closer to reality.
Printed ‘lab on a chip’ costs a penny and catches disease early reports that scientists are getting closer to making this real. The article starts with:
Your diagnostic kit is downloading. A “lab on a chip” system costs less than a penny to make and can test cell samples for diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cancer.
The technology could help with early detection of diseases in the developing world, where lack of access to equipment can lead to late diagnosis. “You can use it anywhere, as long as you have a printer,” says Rahim Esfandyarpour at Stanford University, who led the team that created the chips.
Each chip consists of a clear silicone chamber that houses a sample of cells for testing and a reusable electronic strip. The electronic strip can be printed onto flexible sheets of polyester using a regular inkjet printer and conductive nanoparticle ink. Users can download different designs for the strip, which let it test for different things. The whole printing process takes just 20 minutes.
I think this will be a huge benefit to health care. There are so many diseases which can be treated when caught early.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Lap-on-a-chip update
I have blogged a few times about new technology called Lab-on-a-chip. Currently in development this product will allow cheaper blood diagnostics. A
Forbes article I read years ago speculated that eventually we'd have dozens or
hundreds of tests on a single silicon chip for pennies and you could run tests
every day, at the same time you take your vitamins. There are a number of
dieases and conditions that if you catch them early are much more
manageable.
Nano nod for lab-on-a-chip is a recent article about this technology:
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Each post performs its own genetic test, meaning you can not only find out whether you have malaria, but also determine the type of malaria and whether your DNA makes you resistant to certain antimalarial drugs. It takes less than an hour to process one chip, making it possible to screen large populations in a short time.
“That’s the real value proposition—being able to do multiple tests at the same time,” Acker said, adding that the Domino has been used in several recently published studies, showing similar accuracy to centralized labs.
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They are looking at a box that sells for $5,000, and each chip will cost only a couple dollars. This isn't quit the home model version, but we are getting there!
Nano nod for lab-on-a-chip is a recent article about this technology:
----------
Each post performs its own genetic test, meaning you can not only find out whether you have malaria, but also determine the type of malaria and whether your DNA makes you resistant to certain antimalarial drugs. It takes less than an hour to process one chip, making it possible to screen large populations in a short time.
“That’s the real value proposition—being able to do multiple tests at the same time,” Acker said, adding that the Domino has been used in several recently published studies, showing similar accuracy to centralized labs.
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They are looking at a box that sells for $5,000, and each chip will cost only a couple dollars. This isn't quit the home model version, but we are getting there!
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Update on Lab on a chip
Last year I blogged about taking a daily blood test with our vitamins.
IBM's Move in Microfluidics is an update on this technology:
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Researchers at IBM have demonstrated a novel "lab on a chip" that uses capillary action to create a potential one-step diagnostic tool, and which could ultimately test for a wide range of diseases and viruses.
The chip requires only a small drop of blood, which it draws through tiny channels within the device. The blood reacts with different disease markers to provide accurate diagnoses in about 15 minutes, says Emmanuel Delamarche, who codeveloped the device at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland.
A nice thing about the new chip is that it involves no moving parts, says IBM's Luc Gervais, who is also a researcher at the University Hospital Basel. Instead, it works using capillary action to filter blood and pump serum through its various chambers.
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I hope they work out the bugs soon. This would be such a help. There are lots of medical conditions which are more successfully treated when they are caught early.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
IBM's Move in Microfluidics is an update on this technology:
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Researchers at IBM have demonstrated a novel "lab on a chip" that uses capillary action to create a potential one-step diagnostic tool, and which could ultimately test for a wide range of diseases and viruses.
The chip requires only a small drop of blood, which it draws through tiny channels within the device. The blood reacts with different disease markers to provide accurate diagnoses in about 15 minutes, says Emmanuel Delamarche, who codeveloped the device at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland.
A nice thing about the new chip is that it involves no moving parts, says IBM's Luc Gervais, who is also a researcher at the University Hospital Basel. Instead, it works using capillary action to filter blood and pump serum through its various chambers.
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I hope they work out the bugs soon. This would be such a help. There are lots of medical conditions which are more successfully treated when they are caught early.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Soon will we be taking a daily blood test with our vitamins?
Years ago I read an article in Forbes about new technology which would make available a cheap home device to allow daily blood tests. The device would runs dozens, or maybe hundreds, of tests from a single drop of blood. The blood would be routed through a silicon chip. Because the tests would be in the silicon chip, the production costs could be as low as a nickel.
Catching a disease early greatly improves the chances of a positive outcome. A blood test lab on a chip, for a nickel, would allow people to do a blood test each day. This would greatly improve our health.
It was exciting to read this week that the technology is coming closer to reality. Technology Review reports on the Ten-Minute Blood Test:
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Measuring proteins in the blood can help doctors determine patients' cancer risk and monitor the health of the elderly and people with chronic diseases. But current methods for testing these proteins are too expensive and require too much blood to be performed regularly. A microfluidic chip in clinical trials does on a single chip in 10 minutes what normally takes multiple technicians hours to do--and with just a single drop of blood. Researchers hope to make bedside diagnostics based on blood proteins a reality by bringing down the cost of such tests by at least an order of magnitude
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As a diabetic Janine does blood tests every couple hours. When one of these blood test chips becomes available I'll join her at least once a day for a blood test. Maybe I'll do it as I take my morning vitamins.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
Catching a disease early greatly improves the chances of a positive outcome. A blood test lab on a chip, for a nickel, would allow people to do a blood test each day. This would greatly improve our health.
It was exciting to read this week that the technology is coming closer to reality. Technology Review reports on the Ten-Minute Blood Test:
----------
Measuring proteins in the blood can help doctors determine patients' cancer risk and monitor the health of the elderly and people with chronic diseases. But current methods for testing these proteins are too expensive and require too much blood to be performed regularly. A microfluidic chip in clinical trials does on a single chip in 10 minutes what normally takes multiple technicians hours to do--and with just a single drop of blood. Researchers hope to make bedside diagnostics based on blood proteins a reality by bringing down the cost of such tests by at least an order of magnitude
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As a diabetic Janine does blood tests every couple hours. When one of these blood test chips becomes available I'll join her at least once a day for a blood test. Maybe I'll do it as I take my morning vitamins.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, chip
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Totally amazing: Lab on a piece of paper
Ever since I heard about the idea of putting diagnostic lab on a chip for analyzing blood I've been fascinated by the potential.
Just two months ago I came across news on IBM was getting closer to bringing this to the market.
George Whitesides just blows my mind with the same idea, but using paper:
It is such an amazing world.
Be warned, there is a little swearing in the last minute.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, paper
Just two months ago I came across news on IBM was getting closer to bringing this to the market.
George Whitesides just blows my mind with the same idea, but using paper:
It is such an amazing world.
Be warned, there is a little swearing in the last minute.
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Technorati tags: blood, test, paper
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