> Home computer could diagnose diseases
Home computer could diagnose diseases
Contact:
Hogan Yu (Burnaby resident), 778.782.8062, hogan_yu@sfu.ca
Lily Ou (Coquitlam resident), 778.782.8062, lily_ou@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035
Hogan Yu (Burnaby resident), 778.782.8062, hogan_yu@sfu.ca
Lily Ou (Coquitlam resident), 778.782.8062, lily_ou@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035
November 20, 2008
Scientists are one giant step closer to turning the CD/DVD player of an ordinary computer into a home-based medical diagnostic device, thanks to some breakthrough research at Simon Fraser University.
Hogan Yu, Lily Ou and Yunchao Li have developed a digital readout protocol for screening microscale medical tests prepared on a regular CD/DVD with a normal CD/DVD drive. The November 2008 issues of Analytical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and Nature (NEWS and VIEWS) recently covered their development.
Yu is an associate professor of chemistry at SFU. Ou is one of his graduate students and Li worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Yu’s lab until recently.
Using mild chemical reactive agents, the science trio bound tiny synthetic probing molecules to a regular CD/DVD disc, without changing its surface properties, something previous researchers had been unable to do.
Because the captured molecules were too small to generate enough scattered light to be detected by a CD/DVD player’s optical reader, the team surrounded the molecules with larger metal particles that they had grown. The particles acted as amplifiers.
Free CD/DVD quality-analysis software can be used to detect any errors in molecular binding events that are programmed to occur in diagnostic biomedical micro labs that could run on a regular CD/DVD player.
“Micro lab technology is a powerful tool for the high-throughput analysis of specific interactions between biological macromolecules, such as DNA, proteins and carbohydrates,” explains Yu. “It’s commonly used in gene profiling, clinical diagnosis, vaccine development and drug discovery.
The ability to carry out these applications on a regular CD/DVD player would make them doable in doctors’ offices and at home, rather than in labs and hospitals. Patients who face lengthy waits to get preliminary diagnostic tests for complex diseases such as cancer and HIV could eventually carry them out at home.”
Yu says the next challenge, which will likely take years to resolve, will be to figure out how to use liquid biomedical samples and not just dry molecules in CD/DVD drives.
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Hogan Yu, Lily Ou and Yunchao Li have developed a digital readout protocol for screening microscale medical tests prepared on a regular CD/DVD with a normal CD/DVD drive. The November 2008 issues of Analytical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and Nature (NEWS and VIEWS) recently covered their development.
Yu is an associate professor of chemistry at SFU. Ou is one of his graduate students and Li worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Yu’s lab until recently.
Using mild chemical reactive agents, the science trio bound tiny synthetic probing molecules to a regular CD/DVD disc, without changing its surface properties, something previous researchers had been unable to do.
Because the captured molecules were too small to generate enough scattered light to be detected by a CD/DVD player’s optical reader, the team surrounded the molecules with larger metal particles that they had grown. The particles acted as amplifiers.
Free CD/DVD quality-analysis software can be used to detect any errors in molecular binding events that are programmed to occur in diagnostic biomedical micro labs that could run on a regular CD/DVD player.
“Micro lab technology is a powerful tool for the high-throughput analysis of specific interactions between biological macromolecules, such as DNA, proteins and carbohydrates,” explains Yu. “It’s commonly used in gene profiling, clinical diagnosis, vaccine development and drug discovery.
The ability to carry out these applications on a regular CD/DVD player would make them doable in doctors’ offices and at home, rather than in labs and hospitals. Patients who face lengthy waits to get preliminary diagnostic tests for complex diseases such as cancer and HIV could eventually carry them out at home.”
Yu says the next challenge, which will likely take years to resolve, will be to figure out how to use liquid biomedical samples and not just dry molecules in CD/DVD drives.
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