New federal funding is putting a Simon Fraser University invention one step closer to helping save millions of infant lives.

The lab-on-a-chip (LOC), designed by engineering science professor Ash Parameswaran (above) and his students, is an inexpensive microfluidic device that can quickly do bacterial tests for infantile diarrhea and determine the appropriate antibiotic for treatment.

It is among 102 global research projects to receive $100,000 each through the federal government’s Stars in Global Health program.

This first-phase money is intended to foster breakthrough, affordable innovations to improve global health conditions.

Infantile diarrhea claims the lives of millions of children under the age of five. Healthcare providers globally, especially in the developing world, are clamoring for access to this invention.

In some regions, it can take up to a week to get fecal samples of suspected cases of the illness to a medically staffed, centralized facility where a diagnosis can be confirmed and the appropriate antibiotic prescribed. There are up to 10 different antibiotics available to address the illness.

Parameswarwan says the tiny portable LOC could be plugged into a cell phone and used by anyone anywhere—even in remote areas with little or no access to doctors.

 “In the future, potentially, a mother who knows how to operate a cell phone in an area without doctors could follow pictorial instruction on what to do with our LOC attachment,” explains Parameswarn.

 “She would attach the sensor unit to her cell phone, then dip the sensor in a small quantity of bodily fluid, such as fecal matter, and leave it in there for a certain amount of time.

 “Our device would beep or verbally indicate when the test was done and then the mother could simply push a button on the cell phone to upload the results to doctors who may be far away.

“They would then call the mother back and give her instructions on which antibiotic to administer.”

Parameswaran and his graduate student research team will use the new federal funding to integrate their LOC’s biology and electronics into a desk-sized prototype to show potential investors.

They’ll need further investment to shrink that prototype into a portable USB key-sized device that could be plugged into a cell phone and made available for less than $5.