Building on their work on a mobile phone – or cell phone – app to detect bacteria, US scientists have now adapted the technology to detect allergens in foods.
The iTube platform uses colorimetric assays and a smartphone to reveal the presence of allergens in food samples
The device, developed by Aydogan Ozcan and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, is a compact and lightweight attachment for a mobile phone’s camera unit, which is used to image tubes containing food samples illuminated by light emitting diodes. ‘If there is an allergen in the sample, the transmitted light intensity changes,’ says Ozcan. ‘By quantifying the transmitted light intensity using a smart application on the phone, we can quantify the amount of allergen in the sample in parts per million.’
A personalized food allergen testing platform on a cellphone
Ahmet Coskun, Justin Wong, Delaram Khodadadi, Richie Nagi, Andrew Tey and Aydogan Ozcan
Lab Chip, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2LC41152K
