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<TITLE>Re: [OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC?</TITLE>
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<DIV id=idOWAReplyText89570 dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000000 size=2>From Ben Schwartz:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000000 size=2>"reading a microarray typically requires
a high-resolution<BR>digital fluorescence microscope, which is very
expensive"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>OLPC could be connected to
USB chip for fast/cheap diagnostics.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><A
href="http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~chrisb/research/lifesciencemain.htm">http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~chrisb/research/lifesciencemain.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>January 29, 2008</DIV>
<DIV class="post hentry" id=post-1269809166970516592 dir=ltr><A
name=1269809166970516592></A>
<H3 class="post-title entry-title"><A
href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/genetic-testing-lab-on-chip-for-100.html">Genetic
testing Lab on a chip for less than $100 Canadian</A> </H3>
<DIV class=post-header-line-1></DIV>
<DIV class="post-body entry-content">
<STYLE>#fullpost {display:none;}</STYLE>
<P><A href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uoa-loa012808.php"
target=blank><FONT color=#5588aa>Since a journal article was submitted to the
Royal Society of Chemistry, the U of Alberta researchers have already made the
processor and unit smaller and have brought the cost of building <STRONG>a
portable unit for genetic testing</STRONG> <STRONG>down to about $100
Cdn</STRONG>.</FONT></A> In addition, these systems are also portable and even
faster (they take only minutes). Backhouse, Elliott and McMullin are <STRONG>now
demonstrating prototypes of a USB key-like system </STRONG>that may ultimately
be as inexpensive as standard USB memory keys that are in common use –
<STRONG>only tens of dollars</STRONG>. It could help with Pandemic disease
control and detecting and controlling tainted water supplies.<BR><BR>This
development fits in with my belief that there should be <A
href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/11/proposal-for-widespread-monitoring-and_09.html"
target=blank><FONT color=#5588aa>widespread inexpensive blood, biomarker and
genetic tests</FONT></A> to help catch disease early and to develop an
understanding of biomarker changes to track disease and aging development. <A
href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/12/biomarkers-and-adaptive-clinical-trials.html"
target=blank><FONT color=#5588aa>We can also create adaptive clinical trials to
shorten the development and approval process for new medical
procedures</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT color=#5588aa><IMG
src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/2229764522_94fe125b9e.jpg?v=0"><BR></FONT>The
device is now much smaller than size of a shoe-box (USB stick size) with the
optics and supporting electronics filling the space around the microchip<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Canadian scientists have <A
href="http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2008/02/Genetic_testing_shoe-box.asp"
target=blank><FONT color=#5588aa>succeeded in building the least expensive
portable device for rapid genetic testing ever made</FONT></A>. The cost of
carrying out a single genetic test currently varies from hundreds to thousands
of pounds, and the wait for results can take weeks. Now a group led by <A
href="http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~chrisb/" target=blank><FONT
color=#5588aa>Christopher Backhouse</FONT></A>, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, have developed a reusable microchip-based system that costs just 500
(pounds) to build, is small enough to be portable, and can be used for
point-of-care medical testing. <BR><BR>To keep costs down, 'instead of using
the very expensive confocal optics systems currently used in these types of
devices we used a consumer-grade digital camera', Backhouse explained.
<BR><BR>The device can be adapted for used in many different genetic tests.
'By making small changes to the system you could test for a person's
predisposition to cancer, carry out pharmacogenetic tests for adverse drug
reactions or even test for pathogens in a water supply,' said
Backhouse.</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV></FONT>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The heart of the unit, the ‘chip,’ looks like a standard
microscope slide etched with fine silver and gold lines. That microfabricated
chip applies nano-biotechnologies within tiny volumes, sometimes working with
only a few molecules of sample. Because of this highly integrated chip
(containing microfluidics and microscale devices), the remainder of the system
is inexpensive ($1,000) and fast.<BR><BR>There are many possible uses for such
a portable genetic testing unit: <BR><BR>Backhouse notes that adverse drug
reactions are a major problem in health care. By running a quick genetic test
on a cancer patient, for example, doctors might pinpoint the type of cancer
and determine the best drug and correct dosage for the individual. <BR><BR>Or
health-care professionals can easily look for the genetic signature for a
virus or E. coli – also making it useful for testing water quality.
<BR><BR>“From a public health point of view, it would be wonderful during an
epidemic to be able to do a quick test on a patient when they walk into an
emergency room and be able to say, ‘you have SARS, you need to go into that
(isolation) room immediately.’ ” <BR><BR>A family doctor might determine a
person’s genetic predisposition to an illness during an office visit and
advise the patient on preventative lifestyle
changes.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=idSignature23991 dir=ltr>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Henry Brown</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:henry.brown@state.nm.us">henry.brown@state.nm.us</FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">cell 795-3680</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">office </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>505 827-2509</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Brown, Henry, DoIT<BR><B>Sent:</B> Mon
1/28/2008 11:26 AM<BR><B>To:</B> Benjamin M. Schwartz<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE:
[OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV id=idOWAReplyText86201 dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Cheap CMOS CCD technology
used in digital cameras may be able replace microscopes in the near
future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.genewave.com/documents/PS004-03_AmpliReaderW.pdf?PHPSESSID=1e778bdb95bb62afeb3343f27ff1b428">http://www.genewave.com/documents/PS004-03_AmpliReaderW.pdf?PHPSESSID=1e778bdb95bb62afeb3343f27ff1b428</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>We need a prototype for clinics in the
field. How soon?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>There is little economic incentive to
develop this technology in developing markets.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>However China and India are developing
similar technology to cut health costs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><A
href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070330092822.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070330092822.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=idSignature17869 dir=ltr>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Henry Brown</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:henry.brown@state.nm.us">henry.brown@state.nm.us</FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">cell 795-3680</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">office </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>505 827-2509</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Benjamin M. Schwartz
[mailto:bmschwar@fas.harvard.edu]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Mon 1/28/2008 11:00
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Brown, Henry, DoIT<BR><B>Cc:</B> Arjun Sarwal;
library@lists.laptop.org; devel@lists.laptop.org; ehong@mathworks.com;
pbaca@sfccnm.edu; acpceo@yahoo.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [OLPC library]
'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 08:34 -0700, Brown, Henry, DoIT
wrote:<BR><BR>> Could Matlab create Greene Chip DNA microarray software to
run on<BR>> OLPC?<BR>> <A
href="http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/news/Lipkin_GreeneChip.html">http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/news/Lipkin_GreeneChip.html</A><BR>>
<A
href="http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=2573">http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=2573</A><BR>>
<A href="http://laptop.org/">http://laptop.org/</A><BR>> <A
href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080121100909.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080121100909.htm</A><BR>> <BR>>
If the MATLAB software could run on OLPC it could be used to monitor<BR>>
disease in the field.<BR>> I worked with AIDS patients and child nutrition
programs while in the<BR>> Peace Corps.<BR>> We saw kids die every week
from RSV and dehydration caused by<BR>> diarrhea.<BR>> We did not know
what antibiotic to give.<BR>> OLPC could use MATLAB software to integrate DNA
array results to<BR>> diagnosis.<BR>> An expert system similar to Mycin
could then be used to diagnose<BR>> disease in the field via the web.<BR>>
<A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycin">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycin</A><BR><BR>Creating
new software to read and analyze DNA microarrays is not hard.<BR>MATLAB is not
required. If you can make the case for microarray<BR>analysis, appropriate
software can be created easily enough.<BR>reading a microarray typically
requires a high-resolution<BR>digital fluorescence microscope, which is very
expensive<BR>However, . Therefore,<BR>any clinic that can make use of this
technology is likely to be able to<BR>afford more appropriate dedicated
computing hardware than the XO.<BR><BR>--Ben
Schwartz<BR><BR><BR><BR>______________________________________________________________________<BR>This
inbound email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security
System.<BR>______________________________________________________________________<BR></FONT></P></DIV></DIV>
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