ZDNet: Smartphone can provide simple COVID-19 test

UC assistant professor Aashish Priye explains how prototype works

ZDNet spoke with a University of Cincinnati engineering professor about promising developments to create a portable test for COVID-19 that uses a smartphone.

Aashish Priye, Asst Professor
CEAS-Biomed, Chemical, Env Eng

UC professor Aashish Priye. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Creative + Brand

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Aashish Priye has been developing an ultra-portable test for infectious diseases such as coronavirus.

According to ZDNet, he uses a heating plate, light-emitting diode and smartphone to create a test for coronavirus that can detect the virus in less than an hour. The test also identifies how much virus is present in the sample using the smartphone camera.

Priye, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, tells ZDnet: "We are exploring nontraditional image analysis techniques to improve the detection capabilities of consumer smartphones in order to perform virus detection using something extremely powerful but at the same time widely accessible to most people."

Priye has been working on lab-on-a-chip technology using smartphones for several years. Previously, he developed a smartphone diagnostic device for rapid detection of Zika virus, dengue and chikungunya.

His work earned a 2017 award for outstanding technology development from the Federal Laboratory Consortium.

Featured image at top: UC engineers are developing portable lab tests for coronavirus that use smartphones. Photo/Viktor Forgacs/Unsplash

UC researchers tackle COVID-19

Professor Carl J. Fichtenbaum, MD shown here his in lab at MSB. UC/ Joseph Fuqua UC/Joseph Fuqua II

UC College of Medicine Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, a professor of clinical medicine, has spoken with dozens of local and national news outlets during the pandemic. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand

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