NUS develops novel chip for faster and cheaper disease detection

A novel invention by a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) holds promise for a faster and cheaper way to diagnose diseases with high accuracy.

Professor Zhang Yong from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the NUS Faculty of Engineering and his team have developed a chip that could effectively detect minute amounts of biomolecules without the need for complex lab equipment.

Diseases diagnostics involves detection and quantification of nano-sized bio-particles such as DNA, proteins and viruses. Typically, detection of these biomolecules requires complex optical detection equipment.

NUS Engineering researchers have developed a low-cost microfluidic chip that can quickly and accurately detect and quantify nano-bioparticles using only a standard laboratory microscope without any fluorescent labels. Photo courtesy: NUS

“Our invention is an example of disruptive diagnostics," said Prof Zhang. "[With our device], detection can be performed using standard laboratory microscopes, making this approach highly attractive for use in point-of-care diagnostics.”

He also added that the research team is currently developing "a portable smartphone-based accessory and microfluidic pump to make the whole detection platform portable for outside laboratory disease diagnostics. We hope to further develop this technology for commercialisation."