Bioscience News - GEG Tech top picks

Although male infertility is as common as female infertility, it often goes undiagnosed because of socioeconomic factors such as stigma, high cost of testing, and availability of laboratory facilities. To facilitate the necessary testing, Kanakasabapathy et al . have designed a smartphone-based assay that can be performed at home or in a remote clinic without access to laboratory equipment. The assay uses an inexpensive device that attaches directly to a phone and is operated through a smartphone application. The accuracy of this approach was very similar to that of computer-assisted laboratory analysis, even when it was performed by untrained users with no clinical background, demonstrating its potential for use at home and in low-resource settings.

Researchers have built a microscope that uses the camera on a cell phone to detect fluorescent products of DNA sequencing reactions in cells and tissues, according to a study published January 16th in Nature Communications. The mobile microscope can detect a point mutation in the KRAS gene that occurs in more than 30 percent of colon cancers.