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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday August 27 2019, @08:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the testing-testing-1-2-3 dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3196

Folded paper creates portable lab for field laboratory tests

Monitoring and tracking biological threats or epidemics require the ability to carry out medical and laboratory tests in the field during a disaster or other austere situations. Expensive laboratory equipment is often unavailable in these settings, so inexpensive point-of-care technology is needed.

Ordinary paper is often used in these situations, since it's cheap, portable and widely available. However, paper poses some problems that hinder its usefulness. In this week's issue of Biointerphases investigators from the University of Maine report a technique that greatly improves the performance of paper-based point-of-care technologies.

"Paper is a biodegradable resource that can help us address more future challenges than we think," co-author Caitlin Howell said.

In their research, the authors coated low-cost paper with a thin silicone polymer layer infused with a nontoxic silicone liquid and then folded the coated paper into precise geometries, creating vastly improved in-the-field devices for concentrating and testing biological samples. Although folded paper has been used in the past to create low-cost, portable field-testing equipment, it almost always relies on surface tension to move liquid through paper fibers.

Because these fibers vary widely in diameter and length, delivery of inconsistent volumes of fluid to the detector can occur, and losses of up to 50% of the fluid sample into the paper's pores are common. Also, paper pores are small, preventing the flow of large particles, such as blood cells and microbes, which significantly affects the accuracy of tests.

To address these issues, the coated paper creates a slippery overlayer that prevents biological materials, such as bacteria, from permanently sticking to the paper and allows droplets to slide off without leaving traces of fluid behind. It can be folded to create small cups to hold liquid samples.


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  • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:45PM (2 children)

    by darnkitten (1912) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @04:45PM (#886187)

    Is there an advantage to silicon?

    McDonalds has been producing coated paper to use as sandwich wraps for decades, and it folds perfectly well...

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday August 27 2019, @06:10PM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 27 2019, @06:10PM (#886276) Journal

    Yes, there is an advantage to silicone (but see above comment). The advantage of silicone is that it's quite nonreactive to organic chemicals. (It's also fairly nonreactive to other chemicals.)

    This disadvantage of course is the mirror: It's not biodegradable.

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    • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday August 27 2019, @11:26PM

      by darnkitten (1912) on Tuesday August 27 2019, @11:26PM (#886478)

      The McDs "paper" wrappers have the same problem, not biodegradable, and were introduced as a reaction to a backlash to foam containers; ironically, just at the time when McDonalds had finally developed a recyclable foam to use in their packaging.