George M. Whitesides of Harvard University and coworkers
have invented uMed, an electrochemical detector that uses the voice channel of
a cell phone on any cellular network to transmit data for remote analysis. It costs about $25, so it could bring water
quality testing to people that cannot afford expensive electrochemical
instruments. It even uses the cell
phone’s vibrate setting to mix samples.
The device uses test strips or electrodes with a potentiostat to perform
chronoamperometry, cyclic voltammetry, differential pulsed voltammetry, square
wave voltammetry, or potentiometry. This
can be used to detect trace amounts of toxic metals in drinking water, measure
glucose in blood, monitor sodium in urine, and perform an electrochemical
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for malaria antigen. For such a simple, inexpensive device, it
really packs an analytical punch. The article mentioned that further work would involve using the device to gather
data in the field and get some feedback by users. Maybe Chemists Without
Borders could volunteer to gather some data & provide feedback in exchange
for the use of the devices. Seems like a
win-win to me.
Link to publication:
If anyone is interested, the publication
indicates that correspondence be directed to : gwhitesides@gmwgroup.harvard.edu
