URI group develops paper-based medical diagnostics

URI engineers have created a paper-based platform that conducts a wide range of sophisticated medical diagnostics.
URI engineers have created a paper-based platform that conducts a wide range of sophisticated medical diagnostics.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – URI engineers have created a paper-based platform that conducts a wide range of sophisticated medical diagnostics.

The team, led by professor Mohammad Faghri, successfully developed fluid-actuated valves embedded in the paper that permit sequential manipulation of fluid test samples with reagents in a controlled environment to perform multi-step immune-detection tests without human intervention.

Hoped-for applications for the new technology include Lyme disease, HIV, Ebola and malaria.

“If someone comes up with a new biomarker for detecting a disease, we can create a test for it using our platform,” Faghri said.

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The technology builds on the same kind of test-strip kits used for home pregnancy testing, but in more complex, layered fashion.

“We’re the only research group in the world to have created fluidic valves on multi-layered paper without the use of external mechanical, electric or magnetic force and to use these valves to create fluidic circuits similar to electrical circuits,” Faghri said.

Constantine Anagnostopoulous, an adjunct professor at URI and collaborator of Faghri’s, said that the group is seeking to commercialize its technologies and has created a startup company, Labonachip LLC.

Anagnostopoulous, who serves as the company’s president, said that it is looking for medical or biological companies to partner with Labonachip.

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