An inexpensive microfluidic device for rapid point-of-care disease detection gets boost in sensitivity
Friday, March 8, 2013 - 09:01
in Health & Medicine
Early detection is vital for the effective treatment of cancer. In many cases, tell-tale biomarkers are present in the bloodstream long before outward symptoms become apparent. Early-stage cancers, for example, release tiny quantities of biomolecules called microRNAs into the blood. The development of an inexpensive and rapid point-of-care diagnostic test capable of spotting such early biomarkers of disease could therefore save many lives. A research team in Japan working on developing such a test has now produced their most sensitive microRNA detector yet.