OPTIMIZED SYSTEMS

Phone Touch Screens Could Be Labs of the Future

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 12-07-11 | Comments

A team of researchers in Korea is developing technology that uses phone touch screens to analyze biological samples. In the future, patients might quickly diagnose diseases like strep throat on their own.

Here at "Smarter Technology," we�ve always been excited by the possibilities of the lab-on-a-chip technology. Back in 2009, we wrote about a new demonstration of this technology, a tiny device that could rapidly analyze samples. With a simpler bent, researchers now think that a phone�s touch screen could be used like a mini-lab to diagnose diseases and identify materials.

Scientists Hyun Gyu Park and Byoung Yeon Won from the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology in Daejeon are the researchers behind the innovative idea. The team envisions that iPhone users could place a small sample�for example, a drop of spit�onto their phones� touch screens, which would use an application to analyze it.

According to "New Scientist," a touch screen�s capacitance, or the electrical changes made by the fingertip�s movements, could make this medical use possible. Today�s smartphones are already sensitive enough to detect capacitance much smaller than fingertip movement.

"Since these touch screens can detect very small capacitance changes, we thought they could serve as highly sensitive detection platforms for disease biomarkers," Park told "New Scientist."

In proof-of-concept tests, Park and Won used three solutions containing differing levels of bacterial DNA. They applied the solutions to multi-touch displays similar to those of iPhones. In these tests, the device could use the screen to differentiate the varying capacitances of the solutions using an array of touch-sensitive electrodes.

Although the touch-screen technology can�t yet distinguish between individual pathogens, researchers say that the tests identifying different solutions are a major breakthrough.

The team is now working on ways to prevent false readings through contaminants like humidity. Researchers also intend to make a thin-film cover on which to place samples. "Nobody wants direct application of bio-samples onto their phone," Park said.

While the technology could be used for rapid results in hospitals, it might also mean fewer trips to the doctor for minor illness. If you wake up with a sore throat, for instance, you could spit on your phone for a diagnosis of strep. An application might then send the results to your doctor, who could call in a prescription.

The team published this research in "Angewandte Chemie International Edition."