Researchers have engineered a tiny portable lab that plugs into people's phone, and connects automatically to a doctor's office through a custom app, an advance they claim may help diagnose infectious diseases, as well as mental health conditions.
The device, described in the journal Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering, is the size of a credit card, and can diagnose diseases such as malaria, HIV, or other conditions like depression and anxiety, the study noted.
According to the researchers, including Chong Ahn from the University of Cincinnati in the US, patients put a single-use plastic lab chip into their mouth, and plug it into a slot in the device to test their saliva.
The device automatically transmits results to the patient's doctor through a custom app for nearly instant results, they said in a statement.
Ahn and his team used the smartphone device to test for malaria.
"Right now it takes several hours or even days to diagnose in a lab, even when people are showing symptoms. The disease can spread," Ahn said.
According to the study, the novel lab chip uses the tendency for liquids to adhere to a surface -- capillary action -- to draw a sample down two channels called a "microchannel capillary flow assay."
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