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Portable DNA Purifier for Poor Countries ... New Handheld Device Isolates DNA Without Electricity
Colleagues,
As reported in MIT Tech Review ... To test for diseases like HIV, clinicians typically take blood samples from patients, which then must be refrigerated and transported to the nearest laboratory. Technicians then extract and analyze the DNA. In areas where electricity is scarce, blood may not be adequately refrigerated, potentially degrading a sample's quality. Isolated DNA, on the other hand, remains relatively stable at room temperature, so extracting DNA from blood before shipping it to a laboratory may eliminate the need for expensive refrigeration.
A standard bicycle pump is all that's required to power a DNA purifying kit, designed by Catherine Klapperich and her students at Boston University. The thermos-size device, dubbed SNAP (System for Nucleic Acid Preparation), extracts genetic material from blood and other bodily fluids by pumping fluid through a polymer-lined straw designed to trap DNA. A user can then pop the straw out and mail it to the nearest lab, where the preserved DNA can be analyzed for suspicious bacteria, viruses, and genetic diseases.
A DNA extraction device that requires no power, such as the SNAP prototype, would have tremendous value in rural communities, says Paul Yager, a professor and acting chair of the University of Washington's Department of Bioengineering, who was not involved in the research. "This would be the front end for a lot of potential instruments people could use," he says.
Read on at: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22980/?nlid=2176
ENJOY!
CC
As reported in MIT Tech Review ... To test for diseases like HIV, clinicians typically take blood samples from patients, which then must be refrigerated and transported to the nearest laboratory. Technicians then extract and analyze the DNA. In areas where electricity is scarce, blood may not be adequately refrigerated, potentially degrading a sample's quality. Isolated DNA, on the other hand, remains relatively stable at room temperature, so extracting DNA from blood before shipping it to a laboratory may eliminate the need for expensive refrigeration.
A standard bicycle pump is all that's required to power a DNA purifying kit, designed by Catherine Klapperich and her students at Boston University. The thermos-size device, dubbed SNAP (System for Nucleic Acid Preparation), extracts genetic material from blood and other bodily fluids by pumping fluid through a polymer-lined straw designed to trap DNA. A user can then pop the straw out and mail it to the nearest lab, where the preserved DNA can be analyzed for suspicious bacteria, viruses, and genetic diseases.
A DNA extraction device that requires no power, such as the SNAP prototype, would have tremendous value in rural communities, says Paul Yager, a professor and acting chair of the University of Washington's Department of Bioengineering, who was not involved in the research. "This would be the front end for a lot of potential instruments people could use," he says.
Read on at: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22980/?nlid=2176
ENJOY!
CC
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