Part of any battle against diseases is diagnosing it an early stage. The case is the same for HIV. But in places where getting to the nearest clinic for testing and monitoring, detection may not always be possible.

So the scientists at the University of Illinois and Daktari Diagnostics have teamed up to create an on the go solution biochip that can scan for HIV and give accurate T-cells counts. The biochip will be the size of a business card!

The chip can handle small amounts of fluid, and when a drop of blood hits the chip, white blood cells get caught in a protein filled chamber.

The chamber has sensors that count T-cells, which are what doctors examine for when someone is HIV positive. People who have HIV have much lower T-cell counts than those who are healthy.

The biochip is also cheap to make. The mobile device reader only costs about $1,000 to make and the test itself would only be around $10.

The faster this kind of tests make it to areas where testing is difficult, the better!

Via Singularity Hub