Mar 24, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
The Technion breathalyzer would give pathology groups and medical laboratories unprecedented ability to support physicians in diagnosing and treating cancers, chronic diseases, and other illnesses
Readers of Dark Daily know that several pathology research teams in America and the UK are developing breath analyzer tests that can detect everything from lung cancer to early-stage infections. Clinical laboratories will soon have a plethora of breath-related tests from which to choose. Now there’s a new kid on the block. A breathalyzer test that can detect up to 17 distinct cancerous, inflammatory, and neurological diseases!
Assuming the cost per test was at a competitive level to existing technologies, what would give this new diagnostic system appeal to physicians and patients alike is that it would be a non-invasive way to diagnose disease. Only a sample of the patient’s breath would be needed to perform the assays.
Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology, or Technion, published the results of their study in ACS Nano, a monthly journal of the American Chemical Society devoted to “nanoscience and nanotechnology research at the interfaces of chemistry, biology, materials science, physics, and engineering.” (more…)
Oct 28, 2016 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
The minute electronic device accurately determines alcohol blood levels by sampling the wearer’s sweat
During a night out on the town, what better way for individuals to monitor their consumption of alcohol and blood alcohol levels than by wearing a tattoo that can monitor blood alcohol levels? That’s the vision of researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
This temporary tattoo would be capable of helping an individual determine, “Am I drunk or just slightly buzzed. Am I becoming a public nuisance? Am I able to drive right now?” An innovative, cutting-edge device is being designed to help consumers definitively answer those questions.
Clinical chemists, medical laboratory scientists, and pathologists will be interested in the diagnostic technologies used to accomplish this testing. The device is basically a malleable, temporary tattoo that adheres to the skin and induces sweat. It is equipped with a flexible electronic circuit board and a hydrogel patch that contains pilocarpine, a sweat-inducing drug. The electrodes in the device collect a sample to determine blood alcohol content. That data is then wirelessly transmitted to a mobile device, such as a laptop or a smartphone, and provides an accurate reading of whether or not a person is inebriated. (more…)
Jul 8, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Inexpensive packing material pops up as an alternative to high-cost glass lab equipment for simple diagnostic tests, a potential boon in developing nations
By turning Bubble Wrap into a cheap alternative to glass test tubes and culture dishes, Harvard University scientists may have found a way to cushion clinical laboratories in developing countries from the high cost of basic lab gear.
This latest discovery is significant because it adds to the growing number of in vitro diagnostic testing systems that potentially can generate results as accurate as those produced in today’s state-of-the-art medical laboratories, but at a much lower cost. (more…)
Nov 14, 2008 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists may eventually have a new tool that makes it possible to collect microbiopsies using minimally-invasive surgery. The invention is a product of research at Johns Hopkins University and uses biochemicals to operate the device. A tiny handlike gripper is 500 micrometers (0.05 centimeters) in diameter, and made of a film of copper and chromium covered with polymer. Scientists say the gripper can grasp tissue or cell samples inside the body.
As a proof of concept, researchers used the device to perform an in vitro biopsy on a cow’s bladder. The technology also might work in clinical labs, the researchers said. The device can be moved remotely by using a magnet. It has “fingers” that will close around the target object in response to chemical triggers.
An article in MIT’s Technology Review explained how it works. The gripper remains open if the polymer stays rigid. Researchers can activate the gripper’s fingers to make them curl inward to form a ball that is 190 micrometers wide by adding a chemical trigger or lowering the temperature, thus softening the polymer. Adding a second chemical sends a signal to reopen the gripper. The chemicals used as triggers are harmless to humans.
For clinical labs, these microgrippers could be used for lab-on-a-chip applications, the article said. The microgrippers could move samples around a chip or clean debris. One drawback, however, is that using chemical triggers can make the device difficult to control. If the chemical environment changes, it can change how the device performs.
The lead researcher is David Gracias, Ph.D., a biomolecular- and chemical-engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University. During a meeting of the American Chemical Society earlier this year, Gracias and colleagues demonstrated how the microgripper could grasp and maneuver tiny beads and clumps of cells in a petri dish.
Researchers believe the technology is a step toward surgical tools that move freely inside the human body. The gripper would respond autonomously to chemical cues in the body, and could, for example, react to the biochemicals released by infected tissue. The microgripper could close around the tissue, so that doctors could remove the pieces for analysis, the article said.
“This is the first mobile micromachine that has been shown convincingly to do very useful things,” Gracias says. “And it does not require electric power for operation. We want to make mobile surgical tools. The ultimate goal is to have a machine that you can swallow, or inject small structures that move and can do things.”
Although introduction of this tool for microsurgery is likely to be years away, it is a demonstration of micro-technologies and nano-technologies that have the potential to give pathologists new capabilities. This invention is also consistent with the trend to perform laboratory tests with smaller specimens.
