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http://www.canada.com/health/Winnipeg+researchers+working+hand+held+H1N1+detector/2273247/story.html
Winnipeg researchers working on hand-held H1N1 detector:applause::tiphat:
By Larry Kusch , Winnipeg Free PressNovember 26, 2009
WINNIPEG ? Scientists here are working on a portable low-cost device that will quickly detect whether someone has ? or has had ? H1N1.
The researchers, who won a $5,000 local innovation award for their work last week, said the biochip sensor will allow a non-medical person to detect the flu virus in an hour for as little as $10 per test. Using current technology, such tests can cost a few hundred dollars each, they said.
The scientists also claim the portable device they are developing can be calibrated to detect antibodies indicating the onset of other infectious diseases including SARS, HIV and hepatitis B.
"This could be used in cancer detection," project leader Michael Zhang, a provincial biomedical engineer and an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg, said Thursday. "Someone could (conduct the test) at home or use it through their family physician's office."
Last week, Zhang and his colleagues won a local challenge event for innovators and entrepreneurs patterned on the model used in CBC's Dragon Den, defeating four other teams. Other members of his group include U of W computer scientist Simon Liao, electrical engineer Bin Huang, and University of Manitoba biophysicist Francis Lin.
They will use the prize money and kick in some of their own to build a prototype of the hand-held device, which screens for specific diseases using a saliva test. After that, they'll need considerably more funding to conduct clinical trials to prove the device works before it is approved by agencies such as Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Joel Kettner, Manitoba's chief public health officer, said such diagnostic devices have potential benefits, as long as they're used appropriately and are accurate.
"For a surveillance tool, this could be quite useful and, if it was accurate enough, might be useful for someone who has no symptoms to ask the question, 'Do I need to get a flu shot?'" Kettner said Thursday.
But it's a different situation if you're using it to make a medical decision on an individual who is ill, he said. "You don't want a test that gets it wrong half the time when it says you've got H1N1."? Copyright (c) Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg researchers working on hand-held H1N1 detector:applause::tiphat:
By Larry Kusch , Winnipeg Free PressNovember 26, 2009
WINNIPEG ? Scientists here are working on a portable low-cost device that will quickly detect whether someone has ? or has had ? H1N1.
The researchers, who won a $5,000 local innovation award for their work last week, said the biochip sensor will allow a non-medical person to detect the flu virus in an hour for as little as $10 per test. Using current technology, such tests can cost a few hundred dollars each, they said.
The scientists also claim the portable device they are developing can be calibrated to detect antibodies indicating the onset of other infectious diseases including SARS, HIV and hepatitis B.
"This could be used in cancer detection," project leader Michael Zhang, a provincial biomedical engineer and an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg, said Thursday. "Someone could (conduct the test) at home or use it through their family physician's office."
Last week, Zhang and his colleagues won a local challenge event for innovators and entrepreneurs patterned on the model used in CBC's Dragon Den, defeating four other teams. Other members of his group include U of W computer scientist Simon Liao, electrical engineer Bin Huang, and University of Manitoba biophysicist Francis Lin.
They will use the prize money and kick in some of their own to build a prototype of the hand-held device, which screens for specific diseases using a saliva test. After that, they'll need considerably more funding to conduct clinical trials to prove the device works before it is approved by agencies such as Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Joel Kettner, Manitoba's chief public health officer, said such diagnostic devices have potential benefits, as long as they're used appropriately and are accurate.
"For a surveillance tool, this could be quite useful and, if it was accurate enough, might be useful for someone who has no symptoms to ask the question, 'Do I need to get a flu shot?'" Kettner said Thursday.
But it's a different situation if you're using it to make a medical decision on an individual who is ill, he said. "You don't want a test that gets it wrong half the time when it says you've got H1N1."? Copyright (c) Winnipeg Free Press