Handheld diagnostic performs 1-hour blood tests from a finger prick
Nobody enjoys giving blood samples, but it’s a necessary part of many hospital stays and doctor visits. Soon we might not have to, thanks to a new device that can isolate biomarkers for different diseases using sound waves, from a single drop of blood, in around an hour.
Usually, blood tests involve taking a sample with the dreaded needle in the arm, which is then sent off to a lab to check for certain molecules that can indicate the presence or progression of a disease or condition. But that can take from several hours to a few days, which isn’t ideal for some fast-changing diseases – not to mention the discomfort or, for some, downright fear, associated with the collection method.
Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new handheld device that can scan for given biomarkers in around one hour, from a single drop of blood. This means that potentially, blood samples could be taken from a finger prick like those used for diabetes, then analyzed right there from a patient’s bedside.
It’s built on an intriguing mechanism, which the team calls functional negative acoustic contrast particles (fNACPs). These cell-sized particles are designed to respond to pressure from sound waves, and can be coated with different materials so that they capture a specific biomarker, like viruses or proteins.
A small sample of blood from a patient is mixed with these fNACPs, and then placed into the handheld device. This then works like an acoustic pipette, blasting the mixture with sound waves. Since the particles are so responsive to these waves, they all get pushed to one side – carrying the biomarkers they’ve collected along with them.
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