Would You Prefer a Mammogram, MRI, or Saliva on a Test Strip?

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This hand-held biosensor makes breast cancer screening fast, affordable, and accurate.

This hand-held biosensor makes breast cancer screening fast, affordable, and accurate.

Breast cancer is on the rise, but new tools for early detection could save lives.

In Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of Florida and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan reported successful results from a hand-held breast cancer screening device that can detect breast cancer biomarkers from a tiny sample of saliva. Their biosensor design uses common components, such as widely available glucose testing strips and the open-source hardware-software platform Arduino.

“Imagine medical staff conducting breast cancer screening in communities or hospitals,” author Hsiao-Hsuan Wan said. “Our device is an excellent choice because it is portable — about the size of your hand — and reusable. The testing time is under five seconds per sample, which makes it highly efficient.”

Read more at American Institute of Physics

Photo Credit: marijana1 via Pixabay