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Scientists have taken the first step towards diagnosing diseases quickly accurately, inexpensively and without the need for electricity or chemical reactions.

The self-powered Integrated Microfluidic Blood Analysis System (or SIMBAS for short), can process whole blood samples without the use of external tubing and extra components.

According to UC Berkeley professor of bioengineering Luke Lee, the SIMBAS chip takes whole blood samples and uses tiny microfluidic channels to separate plasma from blood cells. Gravity pulls the blood cell samples through the biomarker detection area and the chip is able to provide an accurate diagnosis for diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis within 10 minutes.

Professor Luke Lee said in a statement:

“This is a very important development for global healthcare diagnostics. Field workers would be able to use this device to detect diseases such as HIV or tuberculosis in a matter of minutes.”

I am guessing this would replace the traditional method of drawing the blood into a spinning chamber for separation during a plasma donation process?

The 1-inch X 2-inch chip is inexpensive to produce, doesn’t take up much space and can be used anywhere, because of its simplicity to use – and it could save millions of lives. Eventually, the same technology could be used to diagnose conditions like heart disease, sepsis, cancer and other diseases.

Congratulations, you have chlamydia.

[Cheers engadget.com]