Custom project

Customisable point-of-care diagnostic device

This revolutionary instrumentation has been designed in collaboration with global partners to facilitate a variety of complex microfluidic 'lab-on-a-chip' cartridges to test for a range of diseases.
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Key features

Point-of-careThe criteria behind this EU-funded project was to provide easier access into the healthcare system for culturally and geographically hard-to-reach communities across the globe. This device is portable, and has been designed to enable testing at low-costs. The design eliminates the need for trained medial staff, or expensive lab facilities. It also yields rapid results, allowing patients to wait on site for their results.
Customisable instrumentationThe fundamental design of this device works via the same principles, a cartridge with sample is inserted and the device operates the cartridge to provide rapid result. For example, it operates cartridges providing test data for osteoporosis, HPV and cervical cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Each one requires a different assay and therefore the device is built to operate the specific cartridge.
Supports self-sampling for cervical sample collectionThe traditional cervical cancer test required an invasive swab collection method by medical staff, often in temporary settings which were not fit for purpose. This cartridge was designed to support patient self-sampling, allowing patients to collect the sample themselves.
Robust cartridge operationMicrofluidics is a challenging area of medicine. Typically, the small scale and requirement for vey high precision flow of liquids has lead to a history of unsuccessful operation and unreliable output data. The Labman point-of-care device has been robustly tested and provides repeated successful outputs, the significance of which has been accredited by industry experts.

Overview

The objective behind the point-of-care device is to provide easier access into the healthcare system for culturally and geographically hard-to-reach communities across the globe. This device is portable, and has been designed to enable testing at low-costs. The design eliminates the need for trained medial staff, or expensive lab facilities which are rarely available in remote and developing countries. The device is designed to yields rapid results, allowing patients to wait on site for their results, contributing to improved engagement with the screening programme.

The design of this device is configurable, but it has one fundamental principle; a cartridge is inserted and the device operates it to provide rapid result, for a range of diseases. For example, it operates cartridges which screen for osteoporosis, HPV and cervical cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Each disease requires a different assay and therefore the device is built to operate the specific cartridge, which handle different types of samples (blood, cervical etc).

Microfluidics is a challenging area of medicine. Typically, the small scale and requirement for vey high precision flow of liquids has lead to a history of unsuccessful operation and unreliable output data. The Labman point-of-care device has been robustly tested and provides repeated successful outputs, the significance of which has been accredited by industry experts.

Read about ELEVATE, a cervical cancer screening device designed to operate a super complex microfluidic cartridge. The test executes two different assays, detecting 14 different HPV strains, along with two protein based cancer biomarkers. There are a number of obstacles associated with cervical cancer screening in developing countries. These range from lack of access to suitable clinics, to concerns around sample collection which typically requires an invasive swab collection method by medical staff. The ELEVATE project is currently awaiting clinical validation, and further assessments of user-acceptence and cost effectiveness.

Portable medical device with a microfluidic chip.
Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip for ELEVATE project
A small medical device and laptop on a white table
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
“Microsystems, they all have the same objective, sample in, result out. I’ve never seen any single system work. Most of the time, either you get the fluids just flying through the system and there’s no control, so there’s no proper mixing or measurement. Or, the liquid stops halfway through because there isn’t enough force to propel the liquid through the microsystem. The success is totally dependent on the design of the microsystem and the design of the instrumentation. What Labman have done, they’ve developed this instrumentation that truly makes everything automated – I’ve seen it again and again, it literally is sample in, result out. I’ve worked together with many, many companies over the years and while there has been some successes, no one has been able to achieve this. This is the closest we’ve got to a totally functioning device. The detection part of the technology is quite complex, its electrochemical detection. Labman have developed this really fantastic potentiostat that is able to measure 64 different markers within 6 seconds. That doesn’t exist. There is no other potentiostat on the market that can do that. It’s more than impressive.”
— Ciara O'SullivanICREA Research Professor
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