Blood Separator Device

David Anderson of the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research in Australia will develop a low-cost, simple to use, sample collection device to improve sample quality and ensure accurate and timely diagnosis in remote, low-resource areas. Obtaining high quality serum samples needed for diagnosing a variety of diseases is challenging in these regions due to the lack of equipment and expertise to process the samples and stabilize them for transport to the diagnostic laboratories. They have developed a device comprising an integrated two-step process based on lateral flow chromatography that separates plasma from other blood cells and dries it on paper so it can be stably transported. The dried plasma samples can also be used directly in the laboratory, which accelerates analysis. They will modify the device to separate and store larger volumes of plasma using 25 healthy volunteers, and test its performance for diagnosing patients with different infections, including Hepatitis B and C, compared with fresh plasma.