US researchers develop mobile phone disease detector

The fight to detect infectious diseases in the world's poorest countries has seen the development of a tester device built from a modified mobile phone.

Researchers led by Dr. Aydogan Ozcan at UCLA in the United States have incorporated the ground-breaking 'Lensless Ultra-wide-field Cell monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging' (LUCAS) technology into a standard mobile phone handset.

The prototype device is able to monitor malaria and HIV-positive patients and could lead the way for the development of a portable handheld unit intended for use away from medical facilities, such as in rural areas.

A key advantage of the LUCAS technology is that it allows a much larger sample to be analysed at speed, researchers said.

Dr Ozcan explained: "This technology will not only have great impact in health care applications, it also has the potential to replace cytometers in research labs at a fraction of the cost."