USD 2 'paper machine' to diagnose diseases developed

Scientists have developed a hand-held 'paper machine' that can detect infectious diseases, genetic conditions and cancer, and costs just USD 2 to make.
Many modern diagnostic techniques involve analysing DNA in a patient's blood sample. If pathogenic bacteria, for example, are present, the test will detect the foreign genetic material.
Part of the barrier to bringing this kind of technology everywhere is that it often requires multiple steps under precisely controlled temperatures to prepare a sample and analyse it.
Scientists are working to simplify these procedures, but most are still not ideal for remote locations.
John T Connelly from Diagnostics For All, a non-profit enterprise in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues in collaboration with Harvard University set out to make this critical technology more accessible.

Using materials that cost less than USD 2 total, the researchers condensed sample preparation, DNA analysis and detection steps into a hand-held paper machine.

It successfully determined whether as few as five cells of E coli were present in test samples.
The results can be read using ultraviolet light and a smartphone camera. The researchers said they are further refining the machine to make it even simpler to use.
The study appears in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.