London: Soon, you will no longer have to send blood or cancer cell samples to the laboratory. A "health chip" will give you test results on the spot, say scientists.
A project, known as MicroActive, by the European Union has developed an integrated system -- based on microtechnology and biotechnology -- which would enable a number of conditions to be diagnosed automatically in the doctor's own office.
The new "health chip" looks like a credit card and contains a complete laboratory.
The EU project has used cells taken to diagnose cervical cancer as a case study, but in principle the chip can check out a number of different diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, and various types of cancer, say the scientists.
The chip is engraved with a number of very narrow channels that contain chemicals and enzymes in the correct proportions for each individual analysis. When the patient's sample has been drawn into channels, these reagants are mixed.
"The health chip can analyse your blood or cells for eight different diseases. What these diseases have in common is that they are identified by means of special biomarkers that are found in the blood sample.
"These 'labels' may be proteins that either ought or ought not to be there, DNA fragments or enzymes. This little chip is capable of carrying out the same processes as a large laboratory, and not only does it perform them faster, but the results are also far more accurate.
"The doctor simply inserts the card into a little machine, adds a few drop of the sample taken from the patient via a tube in the cardholder, and out come the results," said Liv Furuberg and Michal Mielnik, associated with the project.
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