A "multicorder" project, inspired by Star Trek’s novel tricorder device for instant medical diagnoses, has been 
Prototype consisting of a post-processed CMOS chip with electronic readout attached to an Android-based tablet for data acquisition. Source: University of Glasgowdeveloped as a handheld sensor paired with a smartphone app to measure the levels of various metabolites in fluid samples from patients.
Metabolites can currently be measured by nuclear magnetic resonance and hyphenated mass spectrometry techniques, but both approaches are expensive, slow to return results and require bulky equipment. The device designed at the University of Glasgow offers potential to rapidly detect and quantify multiple metabolite biomarkers simultaneously, which could be of great value in cases of heart attack, cancer and stroke, where rapid diagnosis is vital for effective treatment.
A new type of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip forms the core of the portable system. Multiple reaction micro-wells on the chip detect and quantify four metabolites simultaneously from serum, urine or other body fluid. Any Android-based tablet or smartphone can be used to operate the system and provide data acquisition, computation, visualization and power. The researchers demonstrated quantification of metabolites in serum and urine within two minutes of applying samples to the device
The research is published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
