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This 20 pound box the size of a toaster can change the way people are diagnosed, instantly detecting “everything from infections, to stress, blood cells, cancer markers,” and even the quality of food. It’s called Microflow.
Sounds like a device from Star Trek or out of Tony Stark’s laboratory, but it’s real and NASA is going to test it on board the International Space Station.
The device is a miniaturised version of a flow cytometer, which until now were huge machines weighing hundred of pounds. The machine uses lasers and sensors to count cells, sort them, and detect all sorts of biomarkers in a liquid like blood. According to NASA, it works in real time, giving a diagnostic in just ten minutes.
Made by National Optics Institute External of Quebec City, Canada, this version of the Microflow is made to work in space, where the lack of gravity affects the behavior of liquids. In the ISS, the Microflow will help keep astronauts and cosmonauts under close medical control. Since there’s no resident Dr. McCoy (yet), the long duration of the missions makes it impossible for men and women to receive medical diagnostics in orbit. The Microflow will fix that.
Its uses on Earth, however, would be a lot more interesting for everyone. First, its tiny size and reduced cost would allow for people everywhere to enjoy instant diagnosis of cancers and infections. They could also be deployed quickly in disaster areas, where it’s hard to get current laboratory equipment.
Another use is the analysis of food, in both small farms and large agricultural sites, detecting any potentially dangerous germs instantly. We may not have a tricorder yet, but this is next-best thing. [NASA]
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I think having a machine which tells me if I’m in danger of developing cancer is pretty much essential. I’m guessing it checks the level of calcium and other metals in the blood.
Well I hope to see the device in all NHS hospitals and practices soon. I hear no end of “cancer seeking drugs” and “cancer detecting technology” and none of it, none of it, ever seems to see the light of day.
Your local hospital already has many of these, just bigger and older. It’s just a fluorescence-assisted cell analyser or flow cytomoter. It’s not magic, and you still need to have a good idea of what you are looking for before you can use it to detect anything – it can’t find something that there is not an existing good test for. They are used routinely for counting blood cells, assessing immune function and spotting leukemia. Not good for solid tumors (unless you have immune stuff going on because of one).
Machines like this are routinely used in research and medical labs everywhere, the special thing here is being able to use one in orbit. The smallest ones I have seen are about the size of two shoeboxes and a laptop and cost about $40000, bigger ones can actually collect individual cell types that you are interested in, this cell-sorting function can be handy for research or isolating stem cells etc.