Professor Develops Inexpensive Test for Liver Damage

Diagnostics for All, a non-profit organization led by University Professor George M. Whitesides, has recently created a small, cheap, and portable test for liver damage.

The test is printed on paper using black wax, which means it is exponentially less expensive than current methods, which require drawing large amounts of blood from patients.

Whitesides’ discovery has vast implications for global health, according to Richard Cash, a senior lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health.

“One of the problems in global health is finding low cost, accurate tests,” Cash said. “You cannot tell a person, ‘I’ll give you a test today and call you tomorrow.’ Often times you cannot call because the person doesn’t have a phone or lives miles away, so doctors are forced to treat symptoms about which they are unsure.”

In particular, the new test has the potential to improve the lives of the many individuals in developing countries who suffer from HIV and tuberculosis. The medications required to treat HIV and tuberculosis are sometimes harmful to the liver and patients taking these drugs must have their livers monitored regularly by expensive machinery and laboratory chemical tests. Oftentimes in developing countries, such equipment does not exist.

By contrast, 132 copies of the new test can be printed on an 8 ½ x 11 in. sheet of paper, making it cost effective and practical, according to Una Ryan, the CEO of Diagnostics for All.

The test works as a small chemical maze for blood. The paper is mostly laminated, but a drop of blood is placed on an exposed area on the back of the test and is then filtered by the paper until only the plasma reaches the next layer, where it goes through a series of chemical reactions. On the front side, patients hope to see a blue dot and a yellow dot. If they see pink in both, then it means their blood contains enzymes that indicate liver damage.

The liver tests are the first major field test launched by Diagnostics for All, which was founded in 2007 by Whitesides and a team of scientists looking for practical, innovative, and cost-efficient ways to help treat those in developing countries. Whitesides said that the organization’s goal is to have an agenda “based on the needs of the people,” as opposed to a series of goals defined by investors.

Diagnostics for All plans on creating new designs of the test that can be used to diagnose levels of aflatoxin, which is a chemical that in high doses can cause liver cancer or dwarfism in children. In addition, they are looking to develop tests that will identify spoilage in milk and pregnancy in cows, according to Ryan.

Ryan also noted that the organization would like to develop new tests that would help identify mothers at risk for a miscarriage.