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A team of scientists in Australia has created a novel porous polymer material for blood tests that could advance pharmaceutical testing and other areas.
Michelle Paine reports for The Mercury in Tasmania:
University of Tasmania Professor Emily Hilder's MilliSpot paper means a spot of blood can be used in place of vials of blood to provide accurate test results.And blood spots, which dry quickly, become non-hazardous and do not need refrigeration.
Putting spots of blood on paper works for some tests on newborn babies, but it’s not a suitable method for storage or when levels of a drug need to be identified such as during drug development.
MilliSpot materials, which include polymers on paper, provide a response that is up to three times more sensitive than from plain paper, according to a press release. The technology is patent-pending, and the team is working with a company called UniQuest, which helps commercialize research from Australian universities.
Hilder, who is part of the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science, told The Mercury that the pharmaceutical industry has realized this new technology works really well and has begun to test it for drug development.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Prof Paddy Nixon told Paine that the team’s achievement has “the potential to make a real difference in not just pharmaceuticals but many other areas.” According to a press release, markets include laboratory consumable products, including neo-natal screening heel-prick tests, more advanced diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and even military applications.
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