Engineers Create Device to Diagnose Patients More Quickly
March 25, 2016 | Pennsylvania State UniversityEstimated reading time: 1 minute
When a person contracts a disease, it takes time to diagnose the symptoms. Cell culturing, immunoassay and a nucleic-acid based diagnostic cycle all take several days, if not a week to determine the results. Not only do sick patients suffer during this time period, the wait can also lead to unnecessary disease spreading and perhaps avoidable antibiotic use.
Weihua Guan has created a device that will deliver a diagnosis to the patient in 30 minutes. The assistant professor of electrical engineering in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, with the help of his graduate student, Gihoon Choi, has created “AnyMDx: A Mobile Molecular Diagnostics Lab for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” for rapid diagnosis.
Their invention consists of three parts: a small footprint box which is the analyzer; a disposable disease-specific microfluidic compact disk that the doctor puts a patient’s sample of blood, saliva, etc. in; and an optional smartphone app to interpret the results.
“By leveraging our advanced microfluidic, microelectronic and optic technologies, we are now able to integrate all the steps in nucleic acid diagnosis, including sample preparation, amplification and results reading, in a ‘sample-in-answer-our’ fashion,” said Guan. “Our device can handle a wide variety of samples: whole blood, saliva, swab, sputum, urine, stool and various pathogen types: parasites, bacteria and viruses. Our device requires no expertise to run the advanced molecular diagnosis and it delivers the results to the patient in under 30 minutes.”
Not only will AnyMDx be faster, Guan is working to make sure the device can be used in a harsh and resource-limiting environment. With help from funding from the College of Engineering’s ENGineering for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ENGINE) grant program, Guan and Choi are making sure the instrument is mobile, battery-powered and able to withstand any conditions, in any kind of environment. Collaborating with Liwang Cui in the College of Agricultural Sciences, their first objective is to get it deployed in the field by summer 2017 to Thailand and Myanmar to start diagnosing cases of malaria, where the disease is prevalent. Ultimately the goal is for hospitals, community clinics, doctors’ offices and even pharmacies to have an AnyMDx readily available for diagnosis.
Suggested Items
Indium Experts to Present at Electronics in Harsh Environments SMTA Conference
05/13/2024 | Indium Corporationndium Corporation Technical Manager for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Karthik Vijay, will deliver a technical presentation and Indium Corporation Senior Technologist, Dr. Ronald Lasky, will deliver both a workshop and technical presentation at the Electronics in Harsh Environments SMTA Conference on May 14-16 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Emerald Technologies Acquires Optimum
05/13/2024 | Emerald TechnologiesEmerald Technologies announced its acquisition of Optimum Design Associates, Inc. (Optimum), a leading electronic design and engineering services company. Terms were not disclosed.
All Flex Solutions Hires Mike Madetzke as Manager of R&D
05/08/2024 | All Flex SolutionsAll Flex Solutions is very pleased to announce that Mike Madetzke has joined their team as their new Manager of Research and Development.
Coherix Partners with EMU on 'Factory of the Future' Technology Program
05/08/2024 | PRNewswireMichigan-based Coherix is working with Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in Ypsilanti to develop "factory-of-the-future" manufacturing and assembly technology.
Indium Corporation Expert to Present on Pb-Free Solder for Die-Attach in Discrete Power Applications
04/30/2024 | Indium CorporationIndium Corporation Product Manager – Semiconductor Dean Payne will present at the Advanced Packaging for Power Electronics conference, hosted by IMAPS, held May 8-9 in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA.