Diagnostic On-the-Go: Cell phone, microchip, ELISA, and ovarian cancer

In the September 1^st issue of Lab on a Chip, Wang and colleagues report a proof-of-concept for an easily deployable, point-of-care diagnostic system for the detection of the ovarian cancer HE4 biomarker (reference).  The team combined a simple microchip-based ELISA platform with the imaging capability of modern portable phones.  Interestingly, the performances (sensitivity and specificity) of the portable phone camera appeared to be superior to a stand-alone CCD camera.

Although this work may seem anecdotal at first glance, it constitutes a valuable step towards increased diagnostic accessibility through the translation of a standard “high-tech” laboratory method to a “low-tech” broadly deployable platform.

Thierry Sornasse for Integrated Biomarker Strategy

Ridge Diagnostics Depression Blood Test Biomarker

The cover of the August 2011 issue of Psychiatric Times features Ridge Diagnostics Depression Blood Test Biomarker Technology.

As I wrote in an earlier post (System biology derived biomarker: fight complexity with complexity), I am convinced that the development of diagnostic biomarkers has a lot to gain from using a system biology approach (i.e. biomarkers based on multiple independent factors). In many cases, relying on a single factor to diagnose or predict complex diseases has turned out to be an intractable problem.  Here, I would like to attract your attention to another example of a system biology based disease diagnosis biomarker for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Ridge Diagnostics, based in San Diego, has developed a new blood-based, multi-factor diagnosis for MDD (MDDScore) that is intended to assist the clinician in diagnosing and monitoring patients.  Currently, the diagnosis of MDD is mostly based on subjective criteria (i.e. interview and observation by the clinician) which represent the distal output of a complex pathobiology. By providing an objective means to diagnose patients, MDDScore should shed a new light on the fundamental biological imbalances that cause MDD.

Thierry Sornasse for Integrated Biomarker Strategy