Cancer is now the biggest threat to human life, and the key to their treatment is to detect it as quickly as possible. To diagnose cancer, you need a well-equipped medical laboratory with the right equipment and personnel. Unfortunately, not everywhere it is available, so researchers from various research centers are working on mobile laboratories that would perform similar functions.

A team of scientists from the State University of Washington has created such a laboratory that enables on-the-spot testing of tumors. The whole device is very small, and this size was achieved through the use of iPhone 5, which acts as a computing unit for analysis of samples taken.

The device uses a spectrometer to simultaneously analyze eight samples and, by measuring the light spectrum, determines what chemicals are present in them. This way it detects markers of lung, breast, prostate, and epithelial cancer.

Surprisingly, the lab is able to reach as much as 99 percent efficiency in detecting tumors in a patient. It is very useful in developing countries where access to modern medicine is limited.

06/02/2017