Chip set to simplify diabetes diagnoses

The portable, handheld device relies on a specially developed microchip to distinguish between two main forms of diabetes mellitus, which are both characterised by high blood sugar levels but have different causes and treatments. Until now, making this distinction has required a slow, expensive test that could only be performed by highly trained lab staff and would cost hundreds of dollars per patient. In contrast, the new device produces results in minutes, requires minimal training to use, costs around $20 (approx. £12) to produce and can be used for around 15 tests before needing to be replaced. What's more, the microchip doesn't require any radioactive materials. "With the new test, not only do we anticipate being able to diagnose diabetes more efficiently and more broadly, we will also understand diabetes better — both the natural history and how new therapies impact the body," said Stanford researcher Brian Feldman. Each microchip has a base consisting of glass plates that are coated in "an array of nanoparticle-sized islands of gold." These particles intensify the fluorescent signal emitted by the antibodies present in a patient's blood, allowing them to be detected. As well as new diabetics, the researchers believe the technology could allow doctors to quickly and cheaply track a patient's auto-antibody levels before they develop symptoms, in order to prevent the disease from forming in the first place. The Stanford team has filed a patent on the microchip and is now in the process of establishing a spin-off company to commercialise it.