Providing a means for you to “spot-check” your blind date at a moment’s notice is top priority for a team of scientists and engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, who have developed a system to analyze oral samples for everything from alcohol, drugs, bacteria, viruses, hormones, antiobodies and more. Means for testing some of these elements have existed for some time, but more complex tests like the ones used for Anthrax require advanced labs that heat and cool a sample through a series of reactions—something not terribly easy to miniaturize. The new technology being developed by the University will hopefully shrink the testing unit to a kit about the size of a credit card.
Miniaturized Saliva Lab in the Works [UPennEDU via Medgadget]
