Non-invasive nanotube device detects disease with one drop of blood

http://www.njit.edu/news/2013/2013-218.php

Professors Reginald Farrow and Alokik Kanwal of the New Jersey Institute of Technology have created a carbon nanotube-based device to non-invasively and quickly detect mobile single cells with the potential to maintain a high degree of spatial resolution.  They are now overseeing the manufacture of a prototype lab-on-a-chip that would enable a physician to detect disease or virus from just one drop of liquid, including blood.

The military was the initial funder of the research, in an attempt to identify biological warfare agents.  Farrow believes that it can be applied much more widely to detect viruses, bacteria, or cancer.  The next phase of research will include a study of the device’s ability to assess the health of brain neurons.