Subscribe free to our newsletters via your




INTERN DAILY
Colour-changing molecule can monitor drug dosages
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) June 08, 2014


Scientists have created a molecule that glows red or blue depending on drug levels in blood -- the basis for a prospective home test to prevent patients accidentally overdosing, they reported Sunday.

After contact with a drop of blood, the molecule's colour is observed with the aid of an ordinary digital camera, its Swiss and American developers wrote in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

"The process does not require any laboratory instruments and is so simple that the patients can do it themselves," Rudolf Griss from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne says in a video explaining the invention, which is being refined for commercial use.

People who use medicine for conditions like cancer, heart disease and epilepsy or immunosuppressants to prevent organ rejection after a transplant, risk side-effects or even poisoning from overdosage, or the drugs not working if the dose is too small.

But tests to monitor dosage are expensive, time-consuming and have to be done by trained experts at a laboratory.

A cheap, easy method has long been sought to monitor drug dosage at the patient's home or bedside, especially in remote areas with poor medical infrastructure.

The new molecule "can measure the exact concentration of drug in a patient's blood stream, giving an instant result," said Griss.

The sensor molecule has four components -- a receptor protein that binds to a molecule on a specific drug; a small molecule that is similar to that on the target drug; a light-producing enzyme called luciferase; and a fluorophore molecule that can change the colour of the light emitted by the luciferase.

When there is no drug around, the receptor and the drug-like molecule within the system bind together. In so doing, they also pull the luciferase and the fluorophore closer together, and the whole produces a red light.

When there is drug in the blood, however, the receptor prefers to bind to the real thing and pushes the synthetic, drug-like molecule away. This also separates the fluorophore from the luciferase, and the unit burns blue.

- Diabetes-like test -

"All you need to do is take a drop of the sample, you put it onto a piece of paper, you put the paper into a dark box and you take a picture with a normal digital camera," said Griss.

The picture is then analysed with simple colour-measuring software to determine the concentration of drug in the blood.

The prototype was successfully tested on three immunosuppressants, one anti-epileptic, an anti-arrhythmic and a cancer drug -- and will now form the basis of a start-up company.

"We are currently in the process of transforming this into a system where the patient just puts a pinprick of blood onto a paper test strip, slides it into a handheld reader and gets an instant result similar to the way that diabetics measure their blood sugar levels," said Griss.

.


Related Links
Hospital and Medical News at InternDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





INTERN DAILY
Prototype electrolyte sensor to provide immediate read-outs
Albuquerque NM (SPX) Jun 04, 2014
Patients trying to navigate today's complex medical system with its costly laboratory analyses might prefer a pain-free home diagnostic device, worn on the wrist, that can analyze, continuously record and immediately remedy low electrolyte levels. Runners, athletes in other strenuous sports and soldiers on long missions also might prefer immediate knowledge of their electrolytic states as ... read more


INTERN DAILY
The 'Sherlock Holmes' of Himalayan mountaineering

Japan starts building underground ice wall at Fukushima

Italy navy picks up 3,000 boat migrants in 24 hours

Students suffer in Philippine typhoon zone as schools open

INTERN DAILY
Chinese army regulates sat nav use

Beidou to help safeguard fishermen on high seas

China's domestic navigation system guides Pakistan

China's BeiDou system standard ratified by IMO

INTERN DAILY
Humans traded muscle for smarts as they evolved

Journey of Discovery Starts toward Understanding and Treating Networks of the Brain

Intertwined evolution of human brain and brawn

Virtual dam on after-hours emails tackles burnout

INTERN DAILY
Spider venom may save the bees: study

'Extinct' bat found in Papua New Guinea

Hunch-bat, Zorro snake among new Mekong species

Iron, steel in hatcheries may distort magnetic 'map sense' of steelhead

INTERN DAILY
Scientists find compound to fight virus behind SARS, MERS

After 8,000 cholera deaths, Haiti faces new epidemic

Oman reports 3 swine flu deaths

Sierra Leone confirms first case of Ebola as epidemic spreads

INTERN DAILY
H.K. rallies for Tiananmen 25th anniversary as Beijing clamps down

Eyewitness: Tiananmen, the night dreams became nightmares

Dalai Lama in democracy call ahead of Tibet autonomy push

Tibet leaders slam China 'repression' in new autonomy push

INTERN DAILY
NATO anti-piracy ops until 2016

Kidnapped Chinese, Filippino rescued in Malaysia

Chinese worker kidnapped in Malaysia's Borneo island

Vietnam says 7 killed in shooting on China border

INTERN DAILY
China manufacturing up in May: government

Tiny elite huge proletariat: UK middle class to disappear in 30 years

Sales tax hike dents Japanese economy

China house prices post first fall in 23 months: survey




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.