>From Ben Schwartz: "reading a microarray typically requires a high-resolution digital fluorescence microscope, which is very expensive" OLPC could be connected to USB chip for fast/cheap diagnostics. http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~chrisb/research/lifesciencemain.htm January 29, 2008
Genetic testing Lab on a chip for less than $100 Canadian <http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/genetic-testing-lab-on-chip-for-100.html> Since a journal article was submitted to the Royal Society of Chemistry, the U of Alberta researchers have already made the processor and unit smaller and have brought the cost of building a portable unit for genetic testing down to about $100 Cdn. <http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uoa-loa012808.php> In addition, these systems are also portable and even faster (they take only minutes). Backhouse, Elliott and McMullin are now demonstrating prototypes of a USB key-like system that may ultimately be as inexpensive as standard USB memory keys that are in common use - only tens of dollars. It could help with Pandemic disease control and detecting and controlling tainted water supplies. This development fits in with my belief that there should be widespread inexpensive blood, biomarker and genetic tests <http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/11/proposal-for-widespread-monitoring-and_09.html> to help catch disease early and to develop an understanding of biomarker changes to track disease and aging development. We can also create adaptive clinical trials to shorten the development and approval process for new medical procedures <http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/12/biomarkers-and-adaptive-clinical-trials.html> <http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/2229764522_94fe125b9e.jpg?v=0> The device is now much smaller than size of a shoe-box (USB stick size) with the optics and supporting electronics filling the space around the microchip Canadian scientists have succeeded in building the least expensive portable device for rapid genetic testing ever made <http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2008/02/Genetic_testing_shoe-box.asp> . The cost of carrying out a single genetic test currently varies from hundreds to thousands of pounds, and the wait for results can take weeks. Now a group led by Christopher Backhouse <http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~chrisb/> , University of Alberta, Edmonton, have developed a reusable microchip-based system that costs just 500 (pounds) to build, is small enough to be portable, and can be used for point-of-care medical testing. To keep costs down, 'instead of using the very expensive confocal optics systems currently used in these types of devices we used a consumer-grade digital camera', Backhouse explained. The device can be adapted for used in many different genetic tests. 'By making small changes to the system you could test for a person's predisposition to cancer, carry out pharmacogenetic tests for adverse drug reactions or even test for pathogens in a water supply,' said Backhouse. The heart of the unit, the 'chip,' looks like a standard microscope slide etched with fine silver and gold lines. That microfabricated chip applies nano-biotechnologies within tiny volumes, sometimes working with only a few molecules of sample. Because of this highly integrated chip (containing microfluidics and microscale devices), the remainder of the system is inexpensive ($1,000) and fast. There are many possible uses for such a portable genetic testing unit: Backhouse notes that adverse drug reactions are a major problem in health care. By running a quick genetic test on a cancer patient, for example, doctors might pinpoint the type of cancer and determine the best drug and correct dosage for the individual. Or health-care professionals can easily look for the genetic signature for a virus or E. coli - also making it useful for testing water quality. "From a public health point of view, it would be wonderful during an epidemic to be able to do a quick test on a patient when they walk into an emergency room and be able to say, 'you have SARS, you need to go into that (isolation) room immediately.' " A family doctor might determine a person's genetic predisposition to an illness during an office visit and advise the patient on preventative lifestyle changes. Henry Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] cell 795-3680 office 505 827-2509 ________________________________ From: Brown, Henry, DoIT Sent: Mon 1/28/2008 11:26 AM To: Benjamin M. Schwartz Subject: RE: [OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC? Cheap CMOS CCD technology used in digital cameras may be able replace microscopes in the near future. http://www.genewave.com/documents/PS004-03_AmpliReaderW.pdf?PHPSESSID=1e778bdb95bb62afeb3343f27ff1b428 We need a prototype for clinics in the field. How soon? There is little economic incentive to develop this technology in developing markets. However China and India are developing similar technology to cut health costs. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070330092822.htm Henry Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] cell 795-3680 office 505 827-2509 ________________________________ From: Benjamin M. Schwartz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Mon 1/28/2008 11:00 AM To: Brown, Henry, DoIT Cc: Arjun Sarwal; [email protected]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC? On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 08:34 -0700, Brown, Henry, DoIT wrote: > Could Matlab create Greene Chip DNA microarray software to run on > OLPC? > http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/news/Lipkin_GreeneChip.html > http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=2573 > http://laptop.org/ > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080121100909.htm > > If the MATLAB software could run on OLPC it could be used to monitor > disease in the field. > I worked with AIDS patients and child nutrition programs while in the > Peace Corps. > We saw kids die every week from RSV and dehydration caused by > diarrhea. > We did not know what antibiotic to give. > OLPC could use MATLAB software to integrate DNA array results to > diagnosis. > An expert system similar to Mycin could then be used to diagnose > disease in the field via the web. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycin Creating new software to read and analyze DNA microarrays is not hard. MATLAB is not required. If you can make the case for microarray analysis, appropriate software can be created easily enough. reading a microarray typically requires a high-resolution digital fluorescence microscope, which is very expensive However, . Therefore, any clinic that can make use of this technology is likely to be able to afford more appropriate dedicated computing hardware than the XO. --Ben Schwartz ______________________________________________________________________ This inbound email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. ______________________________________________________________________ Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail, including all attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited unless specifically provided under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. 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