Mar 20, 2014

Search Close The Colorimetrix app transforms any smartphone into a medical diagnostic device when used with colorimetric test strips or solutions, which are used for medical monitoring, drug tests, and environmental analysis. After reading the colorimetric strips, the app can transmit that data to a laboratory or health professional. The app uses the smartphone's camera to read these strips accurately using a mathematical algorithm that processes the color information and has results within seconds. Fast Feed This App Turns Your Smartphone Into A Medical Diagnostic Device Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, the Colorimetrix app uses a smartphone's camera to accurately read colorimetric test strips to monitor medical conditions. By Alice Truong Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a smartphone app to monitor medical conditions and quickly transmit that data to a laboratory or health professional. Published in the June issue of Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, the app can accurately read glucose, protein, and pH concentrations, but the researchers say there's potential to help fight pandemics in developing countries. The app, called Colorimetrix , essentially transforms any smartphone into a medical diagnostic device to read colorimetric test strips, which are used for medical monitoring, drug tests, and environmental analysis. Analyzing these strips in the field can produce a high level of inaccuracy, commonly resulting in false readings, diagnosis, and treatment, according to the university. To overcome this problem, the app uses smartphone cameras to read the strips accurately with a mathematical algorithm that processes the color information and has results within seconds. "This app has the potential to help in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in the developing world, bringing the concept of mobile healthcare to reality," Ali Yetisen, a PhD student who led the research, said in a statement . "By quickly getting medical data from the field to doctors or centralised laboratories, it may help slow or limit the spread of pandemics. " Alice Truong Based in San Francisco, Alice Truong is Fast Company's West Coast correspondent. As a special contributor for USA TODAY, she wrote a tech column and hosted an online gadgets show. She previously reported in Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, and most recently Hong Kong, where she (left her heart and) worked as a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal. March 20, 2014 | 2:44 PM Add New Comment