Inexpensive Paper Test for Hepatitis C
In your mind’s eye, imagine a daisy flower with each petal having either an antigen, antibody or other chemicals that can indicate Hepatitis C infection. In this case, as chemical engineers at Peking Union Medical College (Beijing) have designed it, the “flower” is made of nitrocellulose paper, stamped out for a microfluidics device, offering an effective and inexpensive diagnostic. As the scientists describe it: “The paper substrate, highly flammable nitrocellulose (NC), is patterned under ambient temperature by craft punch patterning (CPP) to generate multiple test zones. On the basis of superior merits of patterned paper, this new diagnostic approach demonstrates the key novelty to unprecedentedly combine segmented diagnostic assays into a single multiplex test.” MORE
Image Credit: American Chemical Society