International media: UC's portable lab connects to smartphone to diagnose disease
UC engineering professor Chong Ahn is improving point-of-care diagnoses with smartphone lab and app
International news media examined new technology developed by the University of Cincinnati that could help diagnose diseases remotely and more quickly.
UC College of Engineering and Applied Science professor Chong Ahn created a portable point-of-care testing device that plugs into your smartphone and sends test results to your doctor through a custom UC app.
Patients place a plastic tab in their mouth to collect saliva. They insert the tab into a slot in the credit card-sized lab, which plugs into a smartphone's USB port. In a study published in the Nature journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Chong used the device to test for malaria. But he said point-of-care testing holds the potential to diagnose other infectious diseases or track hormones related to stress or anxiety.
"This is the future of personal healthcare," Chong's student Sthitodhi Ghosh said.
Read more about the device in UC News.
Featured image at top: Chong Ahn is a professor of biomedical and electrical engineering in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services
UC engineering professor Chong Ahn and his graduate student, Sthitodhi Ghosh, developed a portable point-of-care testing device that can diagnose infectious diseases and transmit test results to your doctor using a smartphone. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services
Chong Ahn's research in the news
The Week (India): Novel portable lab connects to smartphone, diagnoses disease
MSN (Indonesia): Lab the size of a credit card can diagnose disease
Medical Device Network: Mobile phone laboratory could help diagnose coronavirus
Engineering & Technology Magazine: Smartphone tool could help diagnose infectious diseases
The Engineer (UK): Smartphone lab offers rapid diagnosis of disease
Medgadget: Credit Card Sized Diagnostic Lab Plugs into Smartphone
Daily Excelsior: Novel portable lab connects to smartphone, diagnoses diseases
Related Stories
Computer science student's color blindness inspires outfit matching app
May 14, 2026
Eric Langhorne, a computer science undergraduate student at the University of Cincinnati, has developed a smartphone application that tells users whether or not their clothes are a match. Langhorne has color blindness, so this is a question he often asks himself and was a challenge he wanted to address. This project was done through the Experiential Explorations Program (EEP).
Engineering students win international aircraft design competition
May 12, 2026
University of Cincinnati engineering students earned first place in the advanced class of the international SAE Aero Design competition, where students design, build and fly an aircraft.
From Silicon Valley hackathons to full-time co-op
May 12, 2026
UC computer science student Pratyush Srivastava turns visa setbacks into opportunity, using Bay Area hackathons to land a full-time AI security co-op in San Francisco.