This 50-cent sensor detects cancer or HIV from home in auto-test

MIT breakthrough could soon make medical diagnoses of serious illnesses such as cancer or HIV more affordable and accessible. As much as a blood sugar test for diabetics which requires only a small finger bite and a drop of blood to detect the glucose level.

50 cents to detect serious illnesses

This electrochemical sensor, at the cost of barely 50 cents, detects genes specific to diseases and can be stored up to two months at room temperature.

The technology uses an electrode covered with DNA and uses an enzyme based on Crispr, case12. When the sensor meets a target gene of a virus or a cancer cell, the enzyme is activated and begins to destroy DNA on the electrode. The result displayed is therefore positive.

Although promising, the major challenge for this technology is in terms of the fragility of the DNA coating which limits the sensor’s shelf life a few days.

Ariel Furst, professor of the MIT team, solved this problem by applying a simple and inexpensive coating of PVA polyvinyl alcohol, a very common polymer. The PVA acts as a protective tarpaulin that stabilizes DNA and allows the sensor to be stored and shipped without refrigeration.

The team has confirmed that the sensors still detect a gene associated with prostate cancer following two months of storage at temperatures which reach 65.56 ° C.

“Our attention focuses on the diagnoses to which many people have limited access and our goal is to create an immediate use sensor. People would not even need to be in a clinic to use it, you could do it at home”says Professor Ariel Furst.

This technology is versatile to test cancer as well as HIV or HPV. Only urine or saliva are necessary to detect certain cancers.

A group from the Ariel Furst laboratory is now launching a start-up via the MIT Delta V accelerator to start testing these sensors on a handful of patients in real conditions.