Dec 9, 2016 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Researchers believe newly developed optomechanical technology might eventually be used by medical laboratories
Pathologists and medical laboratory scientists have long been aware of the parallel between cancer and the mechanical properties located in cells. However, a diagnostic tool to assess these properties has until now been unavailable. This may soon change.
A team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) recently created a technique involving “OptoMechanoFluidics” that might increase understanding of how diseases reshape the mechanical attributes of cells in the human body. The researchers’ innovative opto-mechano-fluidic approach could provide a new way to study how human cells congregate in tissue and bones by examining high-speed photonic sensing of free-flowing particles in the body at rates potentially reaching 10,000 particles per second.
The researchers published their findings in Optica, the online journal of the Optical Society (OSA). Gaurav Bahl, PhD, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering at UIUC, was one of the authors of the study. (See Optica, “High-throughput sensing of freely flowing particles with optomechanofluidics,” Vol. 3, Issue 6, pp. 585-591, 2016.) (more…)
Sep 18, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University believe this technology could also be used to detect bacteria in food and water and to follow patients’ progress after leaving acute or outpatient care
New technology could shift the paradigm in infectious disease testing by clinical laboratories, while also giving hospitals a faster way to identify hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and monitor patients for infections post-discharge. The diagnostic technology is built into a special “biosensing film” made of cellulose paper and a flexible polymer.
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) developed the biosensing film. They say it can detect and discern HIV, Staphylococcus aureus, E-coli and other bacteria in blood, plasma, and saliva. The test is inexpensive, disposable, and portable. Best of all (at least for developing countries, remote locations, and places that have few resources), it requires no expensive infrastructure or a clinical laboratory.
And yes, the biosensing film is designed to work in tandem with a smartphone app. But in this case, the mobile app is only part of the story. The real genius is the piece of lightweight, flexible, “electronic paper” or “biosensing film” used with the app. The film acts as a platform that detects infections, both viral and bacterial.
The story of this inventive biosensing film is detailed in a Scientific Reports article in the March 5, 2015, edition of Nature. (more…)
