University of Utah scientists have created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples. The prototype works on the same principle — giant magnetoresistance or GMR — that is used to read data on computer hard drives or listen to tunes on portable digital music players. “Think how fast your PC reads data on a hard drive, and imagine using the same technology to monitor your health,” says Marc Porter, a Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) professor of chemistry, chemical engineering and bioengineering who is leading the research on the system. Two studies of the device by Porter and his team were published in the November 1 issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry. “You can envision this as a wellness check in which a patient sample — blood, urine, saliva — is spotted on a sample stick or card, scanned, and then the readout indicates your state of well-being,” says co-author Michael Granger. “We have a great sensor able to look for many disease markers.” And unlike lab tests today, results could be available in minutes, not hours or weeks. In addition to obvious applications in human and veterinary medicine, “we also think it has homeland security applications,” Porter says. A card swipe device could be taken into the field, where a sample card or stick “could be dipped in groundwater, dried off and read in our device to look for E. coli, plague, smallpox or other suspects on the homeland security list,” he says. Cards with GMR sensors also could be used for environmental monitoring of various toxins or toxic chemicals in water or air, Granger adds. The new research shows the technology’s high sensitivity, detecting as few as 800 microscopic particles that mimicked disease-related substances. Card-swipe testing devices would be inexpensive because they use existing, inexpensive hard-drive technology, Granger says. “The price would be such that small diagnostic labs could buy them, and eventually your local pharmacist could have one,” Porter envisions. Go to: EurekAlert

Posted November 5th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer

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