UW lands $15 million grant for handheld diagnostic device

The UW bioengineering department received a $15.4 million grant from The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative to develop a portable device to be used for disease diagnosis.

The project will be headed by bioengineering vice chair Paul Yager, and will include industry partners Micronics and Nanogen as well as the nonprofit PATH in the research.

"Each partner brings vital skills and experience to the mix," Yager said in a press release. "I believe this combination is what led to our being selected from such a wide range of applicants and it's what will make our efforts successful."

The device is intended for remote areas where access to lab facilities is limited. According to program manager Kelly Anderson, the device would consist of two basic components -- a card the size of a credit card that would hold a blood sample and a computer that would read the sample on the card.

"It [the computer] would be hopefully the size of a bread box or even smaller," said Anderson.

Health workers operating in areas without accessible lab facilities would be able to make on-site diagnoses within minutes. According to the press release, it would target diseases such as malaria and typhoid fever.

The initiative, a partner of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funds scientific efforts to treat diseases in developing countries. This grant is part of $436.6 million given out by the initiative late last month.

Other projects that received funding from Grand Challenges include vaccines that don't require refrigeration, single-dose vaccines, staple crops with increased nutrients and an HIV vaccine that would destroy the virus before it spreads through the body.