Engineering researchers at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering of the Rochester Institute of Technology have developed a new system – like a lab-on-a-chip – that can detect pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
Ke Du and Bianca Lapizco-Encinas, both researchers at the institute, in partnership with an international team of researchers developed a miniature device that uses magnetic nano-beads to detect and isolate tiny particles such as micro-organisms. This new device may improve the way doctors and laboratory specialists isolate drug-resistant strains of bacterial and viral infections that are difficult to detect including Ebola virus and multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis that are spreading across Africa.
Drug-resistant infections are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Africa every year. From recent reports from the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance may cause up to 10 million deaths by 2050 – and Africa may be worst-hit given its poor health systems and poor drug surveillance.
This innovative device is good news for Africa – and indeed the rest of the world – as it would provide rapid and accurate disease detection, and potentially save millions of Africans from highly-resistant microbes.
Read original article here: https://www.rit.edu/news/rit-researchers-build-micro-device-detect-bacteria-viruses
