Smartphone app developed for portable sample analysis

New application algorithm for smartphones reported that allows analysis of colorimetric tests.

A group of researchers from the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) has recently developed a smartphone app for the analysis of colorimetric tests. The research is presented as a short communication in a recent issue of Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

In their paper, the team present their smartphone app, which is available for both Android and iOS operating systems. The researchers tested their app on commercial colorimetric urine tests. First a photograph is taken, and then the app compares the colors in this photograph to a pre-recorded calibration. The results are then presented to the user. This result could in the future either be sent directly to a healthcare professional or analyzed by the phone to allow real-time diagnosis.

The app was shown to quantify pH, protein and glucose levels in urine samples with high accuracy and reproducibility. The team envisages this system having applications for home diagnosis, in addition to substituting expensive analytical equipment in clinical laboratories – with clear advantages in resource-limited settings.

Source: Yetisen AK, Martinez-Hurtado JL, Garcia-Melendrez A, da Cruz Vasconcellos F, Lowe CR. A smartphone algorithm with inter-phone repeatability for the analysis of colorimetric tests. Sens. Actuators B Chem. 196, 156–160 (2014).