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Texas A&M develops smartphone-enabled lab-on-drone technology

For the first time, a robust, low-cost and portable technology deployed using drones can be used to monitor and control infectious disease outbreaks in remote locations, says Texas A&M University researcher, Dr. Victor Ugaz, who has built the instrument. By eliminating the need for samples collected in the field to be transported to distant laboratories for analysis by specialized personnel, this instrument can accelerate diagnosis, enable pinpoint delivery of therapeutics and help provide real-time data to better inform decision making.

The lab-on-a-drone technology not only transports medical test kits and samples to and from areas that have limited or no access to a lab infrastructure, it also can perform the diagnostic tests during flight, according to Ugaz, professor, holder of the Charles D. Holland ’53 Professorship and the Thaman Professorship, associate department head in Texas A&M’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.

Full article: http://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2016/04/26/texas-am-develops-smartphone-enabled-lab-on-drone-technology

 

What we're afraid to say about Ebola

Michael Osterholm, director of the center for infectious disease research and policy at the University of Minnesota, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Timesabout a possibility that “virologists are loath to discuss openly but are definitely considering in private.” That possibility being: What if the Ebola virus mutated and could be transmitted through the air (say through a cough) rather than through contact with infected bodily fluids.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/opinion/what-were-afraid-to-say-about-ebola.html