It’s no secret that one of Steve Jobs’ original hopes and dreams for the iPhone and Apple Watch was that the devices would one day play an instrumental role in the diagnosis, management, and perhaps even the treatment of certain medical conditions. And while the Cupertino-company has confirmed that its been hard at work developing and implementing new advancements in the health field, it’s important to note that Apple isn’t the only contender hoping to release new health-related apparatuses to the masses.
Under the leadership of assistant professor, Lei Li, for instance, a team of researchers affiliated with Washington State University reportedly developed a fully functional, portable, iPhone-powered ‘laboratory to go’, capable of detecting cancer with astonishing accuracy. The device utilizes a thorough analysis of eight different samples at a single time, including the ability to detect human interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is a known biomarker of certain cancers, according to Li via Washington State University’s press release.
Using a specially crafted, “eight channel spectrometer”, the portable lab is able to analyze the amount and type of chemicals present in up to eight given samples, simply by measuring the amount of light omitted by them on the light spectrum.
“With our eight channel spectrometer, we can put eight different samples to do the same test, or one sample in eight different wells to do eight different tests. This increases our device’s efficiency,” according to Li, who has since filed a provisional patent for the device.
This device could be used in hospitals and even by individuals in the comfort of their homes
This is a really fascinating advancement in the medical field, especially in relation to further integrating smartphones and mobile technology with health tools. Li talks about how this device could be used in clinics by doctors, hospitals, and even by individual users in the comfort of their homes, or abroad — helping advance the diagnostic efficacy of early cancer detection where it would otherwise not be accessible.
“The spectrometer would be especially useful in clinics and hospitals that have a large number of samples without on-site labs, or for doctors who practice abroad or in remote areas,” Li indicated. “They can’t carry a whole lab with them. They need a portable and efficient device.”
Just for the record, Li’s is not the first spectrometer device to see the light of day; however, what sets his apart is the fact that eight individual tests — or eight different tests of the same sample — can be conducted at the same time, effectively making the device arguably the most efficient, accurate, and reliable by a wide margin. In fact, Li’s device is so accurate (at a whopping 99%) that it’s already advanced from more controlled testing environments to actual, real-world applications.
Currently, the device is known to work with Apple’s iPhone 5, however Li and his associates hope to ultimately create an alternate version that can be used with other smartphones. Additional information about the device and the research being conducted with it can be found at the following link: Journal of Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
Would you buy an iPhone-powered cancer-testing lab if one was available?
Let us know in the comments!
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