Inexpensive, easy to build, reusable diagnostic instruments may be on its way to physicians worldwide thanks to a breakthrough from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The researchers have designed a one-cent "lab on a chip" that can be used with components from ordinary inkjet printers and other sources to build inexpensive medical diagnostic tools.The technology could bring the same sort of revolution to medical diagnostics that low-cost genome sequencing technology has brought to genetic analysis, says Ron Davis, director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center.

Information about Stanford's breakthrough was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers say the lab-on-a-chip technology they developed in the study could help boost the diagnostic capabilities of medical professionals worldwide, particularly in third-world countries.Statistics show much lower disease survival rate for patients in low-income countries.For example, in poor countries, the survival rate for breast cancer is just 40 percent.It's more than double that in developed countries.Similar statistics face patients afflicted with other diseases.

The Stanford group hopes that access to inexpensive diagnostic instruments could help improve the medical outcome for millions of patients.They say their lab-on-a-chip technology allows the production of instruments that otherwise cost thousands of dollars.

"Enabling early detection of diseases is one of the greatest opportunities we have for developing effective treatments," said Rahim Esfandyarpour, lead author of the study. "Maybe $1 in the U.S.doesn't count that much, but somewhere in the developing world, it's a lot of money."

Credit: Denease Anderson/NIST