The XylemDx system “could make it possible for a medical diagnostic test” to be printed on “a single sheet of paper”.
Nick Rollings, Principal Engineer at Cambridge Consultants, with the XylemDx
Cambridge News and The Engineer reported on the technology from UK company Cambridge Consultants, which could “pave the way for sophisticated low-cost tests that can be adapted at the touch of a button” and printed “in quantities ranging from one to millions”. Users can customise the technology with modules, which enable the tests to be altered “for particular strains of diseases”, and printed “easily and cheaply onto a single sheet of paper”.
The XylemDx solution configures each piece of paper with “a bespoke set of test modules”, including electronic, thermal, fluidic or optical, and then folds them “concertina-style” into a test cartridge shape”. It then prints using inkjet techniques with wax to “lay down fluidic pathways” – electronic ink that contains “silver nanoparticles” for electric connectivity.
These cartridges can take blood, urine, saliva or mucus samples and utilise readers “from complex diagnostic instruments” to smartphone readers. The technology could, in essence, allow patients to have “personalised tests carried out” at medical surgeries or pharmacies. The company said that it “opens up the possibility of low-cost prototyping and development for diagnostic testing companies”, and is “currently awaiting regulatory approval”.
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John Pritchard, Head of Diagnostics at Cambridge Consultants, stated: “Diagnostic tests underpin crucial healthcare decisions so it’s vital they are as fast, accurate, flexible and cost-effective as possible. Early diagnosis and better monitoring of conditions reduce expensive complications and keep people out of hospital – as well as improving quality of life.
“Cambridge Consultants has a rich history of inkjet printing. We’ve now brought that expertise to the world of POC diagnostics. Combined with our extensive scientific and engineering knowledge – including our long track record in the low-cost, high-performance optics that many of these tests require – it’s resulted in a radical new way of providing diagnostics on demand.”
Nick Rollings, the company’s Principal Engineer, added: “The vision is that a patient would go to the pharmacy and describe their symptoms, the pharmacist would look online at the database of tests, and download the relevant one. The test could be fabricated on site, and handed to the patient to use at home or in the pharmacy. The wax in the substrate contains the spread of the liquid, and we can create any pathway you desire.
“If you take a Word document, you would think nothing of printing two or 2,000 copies of the document, whereas with the current state of the art in diagnostics you have to set up a production line. That is fine if you have a diagnostic test that will be used in really high volumes, but with the FDA pushing for what they call companion diagnostics – where a diagnostic test accompanies every single drug – you may have a niche application area that may only sell 300 tests a year.”