Cellphone hacked to analyze blood, detect diseases on the spot

Not that the whole using-cellphones-for-disease-detection is completely fresh, but the latest handset hack for medical purposes is still mighty impressive. UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan has essentially converted a standard cellphone into a portable blood tester of sorts, which is capable of detecting HIV, malaria and various other illnesses. Put as simply as possible, the device works by analyzing blood cells that are placed on an integrated off-the-shelf camera sensor and lit up with a filtered light source. Said light source exposes unique qualities of the cells, and from there, the doc's homegrown software interprets the data and determines what's what. So, has anyone given this guy the main line to NTT DoCoMo, or what?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[youngstunna @ Dec 21st 2008 12:43PM]

o_O i have a w810i... maybe i could do this

[Valicore @ Dec 21st 2008 12:43PM]

Great, I can see it now.

"Hey, uh, wanna come in for a drink?"

"Sure, I just need a few drops of blood before..."

[Salman R @ Dec 21st 2008 12:45PM]

Good design. I can cut my finger for the drop of blood required with that broken glass.

[broli @ Dec 21st 2008 12:45PM]

This would be a cool AIDS alert device for those one night stands.

[Will @ Dec 21st 2008 4:16PM]

and here is the perfect ringtone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGP9DAAi4A&feature=related

[ED @ Dec 21st 2008 4:57PM]

Pool's closed.

[Shaka @ Dec 21st 2008 7:42PM]

Singles bars will never be the same.
"Is that a blood testing phone in your pocket or are you happy to see me?"

[linuxamp @ Dec 21st 2008 11:46PM]

♫ ♪You have AIDS.
Yes, you have AIDS.
I hate to tell you, boy, you have AIDS.
You got the AIDS.
You may have caught it when you stuck that filthy needle in here.
Or maybe all that unprotected sex which we hear. ♫ ♪

[Ian @ Dec 22nd 2008 4:43AM]

pff team america AIDS song is WAY better

[Thats What He Said @ Dec 21st 2008 12:51PM]

i wonder how many engadget articles have had hiv, LED, and SonyErricsson all in the same tagline...

[Chase @ Dec 21st 2008 2:24PM]

Actually none. Before low ranking me at least look at the article title. I know its easier to low rank me and exit the page compared to scrolling up, reading the title, and coming back down to reply, so I copied the title for you:

Cellphone hacked to analyze blood, detect diseases on the spot

[Chase @ Dec 21st 2008 2:27PM]

Oh Shit!

[J.C. @ Dec 21st 2008 4:21PM]

@ Chase

He said TAG LINE.

Before low ranking me at least look at the article tags. I know its easier to low rank me and exit the page compared to scrolling up, reading the tags, and coming back down to reply, so I copied the tags for you:

aids, blood, blood tester, BloodTester, disease, hiv, LED, medical, science, se, sony ericsson, SonyEricsson, UCLA

[drumdbeat @ Dec 21st 2008 7:55PM]

J.C. wins. :)

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Dec 21st 2008 12:55PM]

For your average everyday Don Juan in some of us, be wary!

They're on to us now...

[jupiterthunder @ Dec 21st 2008 12:57PM]

And the obvious question is....

[Mr. B @ Dec 21st 2008 1:00PM]

One small step closer to the medical tricorder.

[Rekit @ Dec 21st 2008 1:03PM]

I'm sure it won't be a problem for you.

(just wanted to get that out of the way)

[lol @ Dec 21st 2008 1:24PM]

Why did you even put yourself on the spot like that?

[Temo @ Dec 21st 2008 1:25PM]

Nice... I hope the good doctor gets a Noble Price for Peace because there will be lots of peace making after this device is given to every love making human machine out there.

All it needs is the ability to detect if she is pregnant.

[KAIKAI @ Dec 21st 2008 2:04PM]

madness?
THIS IS ENGADGET !!!!

[Jarhead2012 @ Dec 21st 2008 1:29PM]

@ Rekit:

Win!
The internets, they are yours.

[adml_shake @ Dec 21st 2008 1:38PM]

I wonder how long it will be until this is written as a new iPhone app?

[gonintendo @ Dec 21st 2008 1:42PM]

It's probably already out on android along with that barcode scanner.

[adml_shake @ Dec 21st 2008 1:44PM]

Shhh...this is engadget. We do not discuss that other phone.

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 21st 2008 1:58PM]

What? We cannot discuss that?

This is madness!

[Karl @ Dec 21st 2008 4:17PM]

It will be released in two years, and Apple will call it a "revolutionary, exclusive" feature.

[Stinky @ Dec 21st 2008 2:08PM]

Does it blend?

No but for real.. I smell the next big iPhone app!

[Juaquin @ Dec 21st 2008 2:10PM]

I just finished taking a class with Dr. Ozcan, he REALLY knows his stuff. Cool guy too. Nice to see he made it to Engadget, he's doing a lot of good research. A little background from UCLA's website:

"Aydogan Ozcan received his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University Electrical Engineering Department in 2005. After a short post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University, he was appointed as a Junior Faculty Member at the rank of Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ozcan joined UCLA in the summer of 2007, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Ozcan holds 7 issued and 9 pending US patents for his inventions in nanoscopy, wide-field imaging, nonlinear optics, fiber optics, and optical coherence tomography. He is also the co-author of more than 60 peer reviewed research articles in major scientific journals and conferences. Dr. Ozcan is a member of IEEE, LEOS and OSA."

[Jason Randazza @ Dec 21st 2008 2:17PM]

Seriously though... any chance this'll make it on Instructables?

[Temo @ Dec 21st 2008 8:43PM]

I am crossing my fingers for this

[zed @ Dec 21st 2008 2:31PM]

"I said blood tester stupid!Get your urine off my phone NOW!"

[redleader158 @ Dec 21st 2008 2:51PM]

You're in high school:
"Hey can I borrow you phone to call my mo-"
"Sorry... testing if I have HIV!"

[dvsbstrd @ Dec 21st 2008 3:40PM]

No, I'm not in high school.

[redleader158 @ Dec 22nd 2008 10:00PM]

sorry, i feel like a dumbass...

[oracle @ Dec 21st 2008 4:15PM]

i knew the w810i was one of the most amazing phones ever, this just solidifies it

[ED @ Dec 21st 2008 4:59PM]

In the firefox tab this article sits in, the title is cut off after the l in analyze. Just saying.

[Glenn @ Dec 22nd 2008 3:39AM]

There is no 'I' in analyze.

Just Saying

[Jenny @ Dec 21st 2008 5:41PM]

How useful this would be in a country lacking the funds for medical supplies! Great for doctor visits to remote areas.

[Ross @ Dec 21st 2008 7:43PM]

Unless it was confiscated when you were in the airport for looking like some sort of weapon...

[Ad-man @ Dec 21st 2008 6:47PM]

If anyone can, Ozcan!




/lame

[innuen6o @ Dec 21st 2008 8:08PM]

I see what you did there.

[User7 @ Dec 21st 2008 10:08PM]

unlimited calls and text $99, unlimited data $50, unlimited medical testing including std's priceless.

[hustler @ Dec 22nd 2008 3:51AM]

Does it check for STD too ???

[Dr K @ Dec 22nd 2008 1:05PM]

Thanks for the interesting story but i think you may be missing some of the important innovation here. The previous article (about the LG Diabetic Testing Mobile) is a "disease control" or "disease monitoring" device. This innovation is a "disease detection" and so has the potential for bringing awareness of illness to people who are unaware and not currently being treated. Early detection and diagnosis is the future of medicine which will be more focused on preventation and patient information, eg. instead of patients suffering the pain and long term debilitating effects of heart attacks or strokes or developing large cancers, a simple and regular blood analysis will detect early signs and encourage treatment or behaviour change to help us avoid developing conditions and their associated diesease and surgical interventions.

If they are not already in touch i think it might be helpful for Dr Ozcan to get in touch with the R&D units of the leading mobile handset technology/manufacturers who are already looking at this important area:

Nokia: http://research.nokia.com/aboutus/index.html
Samsung: http://www.sait.samsung.com/eng/research/bio/e_uhealth.jsp
Qualcomm: www.qualcomm.com/innovation/stories/lifecomm.html

Being based in California he may also find the Wireless LifeScience Alliance helpful.... www.wirelesslifesciences.org

[Raz @ Dec 22nd 2008 2:17PM]

All we need now is a function that lets you cure any diseases it detects.

"HIV detected...scanning blood type...PING!"

It connects to a medical server, builds a retrovirus from scratch using programmable nanotech, and injects it. A little meter tells you it will soon need topping up with base compound (the stuff that it builds cures from)...so you go to the store and pick up a nano-capsule refill that slots right into your phone. The meter now reads full, and you're ready to face the world and any number of infectious diseases and bacteria! Food poisoning? Accidental overdose? Cancer? No problem.

On store shelves in 2030.

[Brian @ Dec 22nd 2008 7:22PM]

I'd add detailed billing to my plan just for shits and giggles! But i'm quite sure we'd need a data plan for this...