British scientists have developed a small chip to diagnose various diseases using PCR testing, which is only one centimeter long and one centimeter wide. They are as efficient as any large diagnostic laboratory. The result of the diagnostic test is also obtained in just a few minutes.
This tiny diagnostic chip, invented by experts at Imperial College London, can identify germs and viruses that cause diseases and ailments, meaning it can also be used to diagnose the coronavirus.
“Although the PCR method is considered to be the most standard for diagnosing countless diseases, the result of any PCR test in a short time,” said Firat Goyder, a senior scientist with the team that invented the diagnostic chip. The usual PCR testing laboratories are also quite large, equipped with special equipment and facilities.
As a result, it is costly and difficult to extend this facility to remote, backward, and poor areas deprived of necessary living facilities. In contrast, in urban and developed areas, people usually take three to four days after undergoing a PCR test, and Sometimes you may have to wait up to a week.
Designed like a microchip on silicon, this small diagnostic lab has simultaneously solved both time and cost problems. It is also disposable, meaning it can be destroyed once used.
To keep this chip’s cost as low as possible, the same practical methods and tools have been used in its manufacture, which is being used industrially in the manufacture of existing microchips.
No name has been given to this invention, but it is a masterpiece of modern technology called “Lab on Chip,” which has been working on for the last twenty years.
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In its current state, the prototype chip consists of temperature sensors, a heater, and a DNA sensor. So far, it has been successfully tested to identify the genetic material of specific animal-borne pathogens.
The developed version of this chip will soon save millions of lives by providing fast, accurate, and low-cost diagnosis of many diseases in remote and backward areas.
