Now, a chip that detects disease in blood drop

Scientists have engineered a cutting-edge sensor chip that can detect diseases from a drop of blood, says a new study.

A new study describes how Reginald Farrow and Alokik Kanwal, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and their team have created a carbon nanotube-based device to noninvasively and quickly detect mobile single cells with the potential to maintain a high degree of spatial resolution, reports Science Daily.

"Using sensors, we created a device that will allow medical personnel to put a tiny drop of liquid on the active area of the device and measure the cells' electrical properties," said Farrow, the recipient of NJIT's highest research honour, the NJIT Board of Overseers Excellence in Research Prize and Medal.

"Although we are not the only people by any means doing this kind of work, what we think is unique is how we measure the electrical properties or patterns of cells and how those properties differ between cell types."