February 6, 2013 - The mChip is a device that uses a single finger prick to diagnose HIV in minutes.
The blood sample is analyzed and data is sent to a medical records database in the cloud. This cheap and portable system has proved
to be very useful in developing countries. It was developed by Columbia University professor Samuel Sia and his team. Sia said:
The idea was 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.
The credit card-sized lab-on-a-chip was tested with patients in Rwanda, reporting nearly 100% accuracy.
On-site results at the Muhima Hospital in Kigali usually take days or weeks because the samples have to be sent to
an outside lab. From a total of 70 specimens with known HIV status, only one tested false, a result that
rivals the accuracy of lab-based HIV analysis.
Co.Exist reports that the mChip has received a $2 million grant from organizations including the World Bank and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which they hope to use to commercialize it in the next few years. Check out the video below to
learn more about the mChip:
Miniature lab can diagnose disease in the field - by Nature Video
