‘Fast’ blood testing system unveiled

Clearbridge BioLoc has unveiled a prototype of its new blood testing equipment, AssayQuest.

The product is a fully-automated, portable analysis platform that performs complex and cost effective point-of-care testing from a finger-prick blood sample.

Its aim is to enable healthcare professionals to conduct laboratory-quality tests and receive results within minutes.

Dr Lee Smith, CEO of Clearbridge BioLoc, said that AssayQuest will provide healthcare professionals with “fast and affordable results at the point of care”.

The system consists of a disposable Test-card and Reader. The Test-card contains blisters filled with customisable reagents connected by a microfluidic matrix. The Reader’s roller pump mechanism processes the Test-card by rupturing the blisters in an automated sequence.

AssayQuest will connect to smartphone devices through the use of the AQroid mobile application. The smartphone will control the system, capture the result and analyse it. The application enables transmission and sharing of test data over 3G cellular networks as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS location tagging.