By Iddo, Section Interviews Posted on Thu Nov 23, 2006 at 12:42:19 AM PST
A team of researchers from Caltech (California Institute of Technology) have developed a micro-sized laboratory capable of analyzing minute blood samples to determine the exact levels of red and white blood cells as well as other blood components. The research, funded by NASA, was aimed at creating a small device capable of performing simple blood tests in space for astronauts of the future. Currently there is no way to perform these tests in outer space due to the large size and complexity of existing blood analysis devices. Future development of the device might lead to cheap, micro-sized, automatic blood analyzers that could rapidly perform DNA and even cancer tests, as well as use in neonatal units.
A new cell phone-sized blood analysis device is being developed for NASA's National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) by Professor Yu-Chong Tai and his team from Caltech. In the making since April 2004, the miniature blood analysis device has been developed ever since by about a dozen researchers working to transform the crude apparatus into a functional, space-capable technology. The chip-based device will perform a simple blood test in about two minutes. Apart from counting red and white blood cells (RBCs and WBCs), the team believes the new technology has great potential as a tool for analyzing fluids such as blood plasma and urine and even as a tool for cancer detection and DNA analysis.
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