If someone tells you, ‘1
million lives could be saved every year, with just refrigerator magnets and
laser pointer’?, you would naturally dismiss it off as a joke. Won't you?.... Well, it is
true!
A team of scientists at
MIT have come up with an innovative device with magnets and laser for detection
of malaria, and have bagged the grand prize of
$100K at Entrepreneurship Competition.
This handheld device
called “RAM” (stands for -Rapid Assessment of Malaria), uses magnets to align and lasers to
illuminate iron-based crystals left behind in the blood by malarial parasites.
By this approach, malaria infection level could be determined using a drop of
blood within a minute, with 94% accuracy. Traditional method of
diagnosis involves microscopic detection of malarial parasites which usually
takes about an hour and has an accuracy of about 50%.
This device (RAM) works
on the principle of detecting a biomarker known as hemozoin in the bloodstream,
which actually is a rod-shaped and iron-based crystal left behind by the malarial
parasites after consuming the erythrocytes (red blood cells). When a single
drop of blood and water is placed into the device, a magnetic field surrounds
the specimen and a low-powered laser shines through it. If there is presence of
hemozoin, which means the patient is infected with malarial parasite, the
magnetic field will align the crystals in a pattern that partially blocks the
laser’s path, thus getting detected by a sensor. The sensor transmits the results to a screen
that displays a numerical score indicating the amount of hemozoin and this
score correlates with the burden of infection.
Being a mechanical
device, RAM will be an ideal one for personal use at home and schools and this
product is currently being trialed at Peru and the researchers aim to develop
1000 prototypes with the prize money.
-
Dr. Vignesh Ram
Source: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/better-malaria-detector-wins-mit-100k-0515
Image credits: morgueFile free photo; BeamQ ClassIIIB Laser Pointer by beamQ
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