Project Lead(s): Jintana Nammoonnoy
Issue
The global health landscape in developing nations is rapidly shifting away from one dominated by infectious diseases to one characterized by various chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, kidney failure, cancer and diabetes.
Most of these diseases are treatable but almost always go undiagnosed.
Solution
The aim of the project was to develop a point-of-care (POC) tool to screen a set of comprehensive health biomarkers in an inexpensive hand-held format, similar to a glucose meter.
A reflectance colorimeter reader that is capable of quantitating the colorimetric end points of paper-based microfluidic diagnostic tests was developed.
The device allows diagnoses to be made rapidly, and offers precise and accurate screening of a comprehensive panel of health markers at a reduced testing cost. Two prototypes of colour sensors were developed.
1. A cost-effective colour sensor using off-the-shelf components
2. A commercially available NODE Chroma that was modified for this application.
Both devices are capable of precise and accurate health markers screening at a reduced cost.
The colour sensor device is capable of interpreting colour signals via red, green, blue and clear colour.
Colour readings are taken at the beginning and end of an assay to provide initial and final values for calculations, displaying the concentration of an analyte on the screen.
Outcome
Two prototypes of reflectance colorimeters have been developed and tested on their ability to detect glucose levels.
The preliminary results obtained demonstrated that the colour sensor was capable of quantifying the colour intensity of a dry assay slide consistently and accurately, and the colour intensity formed on the dry slide was proportional to the analyte concentration in the sample.
The prototype colour sensor units were used to measure a series of glucose standards, by quantifying the change in colour intensities produced on slides when samples were applied.
With glucose concentrations ranging from 40.0 to 400.0 mg/dL, the data showed that the intensity of the developed colour on the slide was consistent and proportional to the amount of glucose in the solution.
The project team intends to apply for Phase II Transition To Scale funding to further validate and commercialize the device.