New device will detect infections, cancer in minutes

[Sparrow]

CBC News
Toronto's medical community is buzzing about an invention that could change the way health professionals screen for infectious disease and cancer.
"We've been working on this, really, for about a decade," said Dr. Shana Kelley, a scientist at the University of Toronto. Kelley spoke as she held a small black device her hand, shaped like a smartphone but bulkier, with a microchip inside that Kelley says can determine in 15 minutes if you have cancer or an infectious disease.

The device works with a blood sample or swab placed on a microchip. It then reads - and recognizes - certain types of cells.
Kelley says eventually there will be a disposable cartridge that contains the sample.
Instead of days, or sometimes weeks, before patients get their results, with the new machine they're ready in minutes.
For those on health care's front-lines, the promise of an early diagnosis means more lives can be saved.
"Infectious disease is the medical condition where rapid turnaround is maybe most critical and our chip, coupled with portable instrumentation, are good at providing very fast answers," Kelley said.
It could also save the health care system millions. In the case of detecting prostate cancer it means no more lengthy, costly and uncomfortable biopsies.
New device will detect infections, cancer in minutes | Sympatico.ca Sync.ca


Won't this be wonderful. With time they should be able to widen its detection possibilities.

 

[lone wolf]

I thought it was Star Trekkie when they did heart surgery through my groin. That sounds almost tricorderish...

 

[darkbeaver]

I'll believe it when it's on the street and proven. So many time this or that Org Corp or Inc make public announcements about wonderful things just around the corner just to prime the money pump. Don't we have dogs that can detect cancer?

 

[SLM]

I'll believe it when it's on the street and proven. So many time this or that Org Corp or Inc make public announcements about wonderful things just around the corner just to prime the money pump. Don't we have dogs that can detect cancer?

You're a glass half empty kind of guy aren't you?

 

[relic]

i heard a bit ago that in Europe somewhere,they were experimenting,with good results,with finding tumers using technology used for detecting land mines.No I don't have a link.

 

[darkbeaver]

You're a glass half empty kind of guy aren't you?

Yeah, but because of the waves we live in that is an accurate perspective. There is really no such thing as an empty glass the volume is fixed by the glass not the contents. I'm not made of glass either, are you?

 

[SLM]

Yeah, but because of the waves we live in that is an accurate perspective.

Not really a perspective, it's a metaphor.

I'm not made of glass either, are you?

Neither literally nor figuratively.

 

[darkbeaver]

Not really a perspective, it's a metaphor.



Neither literally nor figuratively.

Of course it is both. From your perspective it is metaphor. From mine it's metaphrand I think they call it.

Very good that you're not delicate enough to be damaged by my awkward gait and the lump.

 

[#juan]

I thought it was Star Trekkie when they did heart surgery through my groin. That sounds almost tricorderish...

They did mine (three stents)through a tiny cut in my wrist that was healed in about four days. No stiches, no freezing, and
I was out jogging the same day.

 

[Tonington]

I'll believe it when it's on the street and proven. So many time this or that Org Corp or Inc make public announcements about wonderful things just around the corner just to prime the money pump. Don't we have dogs that can detect cancer?

You want make work projects ehh? Takes a lot of time and effort to train a dog to sniff something out. And then it's not a specific test now is it? Can the dog distinguish between types of cancer? Probably. Is it trained to give a diagnosis? Nope. How about other infections? How many dogs do you need now? In how many hospitals?

You're right to say time will tell. I doubt this device will be the gold standard. But for early detection followed up with the gold standard tests (where they exist) this machine would be an excellent complement.

 

[petros]

http://icubate.com/

An old school buddy is part of this project. He is the director of assay development

 

[L Gilbert]

I'll believe it when it's on the street and proven. So many time this or that Org Corp or Inc make public announcements about wonderful things just around the corner just to prime the money pump. Don't we have dogs that can detect cancer?

Yeah, it's gotta be a plot among a few thousand scientists and pharma personnel to fool the public into buying stuff. better keep using Rover as your doc, dim rodent.

You want make work projects ehh? Takes a lot of time and effort to train a dog to sniff something out. And then it's not a specific test now is it? Can the dog distinguish between types of cancer? Probably. Is it trained to give a diagnosis? Nope. How about other infections? How many dogs do you need now? In how many hospitals?

You're right to say time will tell. I doubt this device will be the gold standard. But for early detection followed up with the gold standard tests (where they exist) this machine would be an excellent complement.

It'd sure be a lot better for me than having to squeeze myself into the tube of an MRI that was only made for the likes of Twiggy or some rail-thin person. (I had a blown out rotator cuff in left shoulder as well as tendonitis in both shoulders. It took two hospital staff to squeeze me into the tube and by the time the hour of imaging was over with, my shoulders were junk and they ached badly for 3 months afterwards. I told my doc the next time I blow a shoulder, just sling it and pass on the diagnostics).

 

[petros]

It'd sure be a lot better for me than having to squeeze myself into the tube of an MRI that was only made for the likes of Twiggy or some rail-thin person. (I had a blown out rotator cuff in left shoulder as well as tendonitis in both shoulders. It took two hospital staff to squeeze me into the tube and by the time the hour of imaging was over with, my shoulders were junk and they ached badly for 3 months afterwards. I told my doc the next time I blow a shoulder, just sling it and pass on the diagnostics).

A Home Lab for $500 (Plus S+H) | The Daily Scan | GenomeWeb

 

[L Gilbert]

"$7119.20" sounds like little bit more than "$500".
And $25K for an MRI is a bit more than I want to spend.

 

[petros]

I think that was a tipo. Dr John B is from your neck of the woods. If ever you have the urge to know everything there is to know about the parvovirus he's the guy to talk to.

 

[L Gilbert]

Cool. But my only complaints are an occasional sniffle and a few relatively rare joint/muscle related complaints.

 

[Tonington]

"$7119.20" sounds like little bit more than "$500".
And $25K for an MRI is a bit more than I want to spend.

The $7119.20 is closer to what you would likely have to spend for out of the box materials, but it still seems too low. A PCR machine for $95 sounds like someone was almost willing to pay to get rid of it. They aren't really cheap instruments, at least not for your everyday Joe Blow...unless you can afford to lose some of the automation, but then that kind of puts the kibosh on his idea of building a molecular biology kit anyone could use.

 

[petros]

The $7119.20 is closer to what you would likely have to spend for out of the box materials, but it still seems too low. A for $95 sounds like someone was almost willing to pay to get rid of it. They aren't really cheap instruments, at least not for your everyday Joe Blow...unless you can afford to lose some of the automation, but then that kind of puts the kibosh on his idea of building a molecular biology kit anyone could use.

There is one on eBay for $160 right now. Perkin Elmer 480 Cetus DNA PCR Thermal Cycler

If anyone could pull it off it would be John B and apparently he has.

 

[L Gilbert]

Whatever the cost of this gadget is, wifey and I are pretty healthy and do not see this kit getting much use. I'd sooner spend the $500 on this blood reader and let my insurance pay for any CATs and MRIs and x-rays for my joints and muscles. That shoulder injury I acquired was in '97 and it was because of an accident. It was my first work related accident (outside of an occasional bruise or cut, which I ignore). IOW, it isn't cost effective.

 

[petros]

Heck if I raised cattle a cartridge based analytical/diagnostic machine would save a fortune on vet bills.