Scientists and engineers in the US have come up with a health monitoring chip they say is powered by human blood and which could help diagnose illnesses in remote regions that lack medical facilities.
A University of Pittsburgh team said their 3D-printed "pocket-sized lab" could lead to "opening doors to medical care in any location."
So-called lab-on-a-chip devices already exist in the form of pregnancy and Covid-19 tests, but a handheld and disposable device of this form, requiring only a few drops of blood to check for certain conditions, would be a first in health care.
"As the fields of nanotechnology and microfluidics continue to advance, there is a growing opportunity to develop lab-on-a-chip devices capable of surrounding the constraints of modern medical care," says Amir Alavi, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university.
Alavi believes the technologies could transform health care by offering quick and convenient diagnostics, which would improve the effectiveness of medical services.
The research team recently published details of their invention in the science journal Advanced Materials, where they said its "self-powering functionality" could remove the need for complex embedded electronics and external electrodes.
The team said the chip "uses blood to generate electricity and measure its conductivity" and could allow for on-the-spot diagnoses, potentially of diseases that disrupt electrolyte balance, such as kidney disease, heart failure and liver cirrhosis.
However they caution that their technique of monitoring blood electrical conductivity, or the electric current in blood, is still in its early stages and that its use for reliable diagnoses is lacking evidence.
The researchers are nevertheless hopeful that a device of this kind could spare patients and health care workers labour-intensive, time-consuming and invasive processes, while offering real-time monitoring to people in remote places.
