SpinDX : Sandia Lab's Revolutionary Medical Diagnostic Tool

Sandia’s Ulrich Schaff holds a prototype SpinDx, a portable instrument that can determine a patient’s white blood cell count, analyze important protein markers, and achieve results from other tests in a matter of minutes.
Credit: Randy Wong (Sandia National Laboratories)

A medical diagnosis is performed to determine a possible disease or disorder a patient has. Based on the results, a medical diagnostic opinion is reached.

The procedure of a medical diagnosis involves classification tests and measurements of the physical, biological, and mental state of the person. This is usually the first step and a major factor in determining the patient's health and well being.

Sandia seeks commercial partners for revolutionary 'SpinDx' medical diagnostic tool

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a lab-on-a-disk platform that they believe will be faster, less expensive and more versatile than similar medical diagnostic tools.

Lab officials are seeking industry partners to license and commercialize the SpinDx technology, which can determine a patient's white blood cell count, analyze important protein markers, and process up to 64 assays from a single sample, all in a matter of minutes.

"In a doctor's office, time is money," said Anup Singh, manager of Sandia's biotechnology and bioengineering department. "Patients have become accustomed to an initial visit, some tests, samples that are sent off to a far-away lab, a wait of a week or more for results, more tests and charges every step of the way. With SpinDx, you can see results before you even leave the office."

The technology advances in SpinDx have profound implications for patient care. Heart attacks, strokes, infections, certain cancers and other afflictions could be detected days or weeks sooner than they are today, with no new burdens placed on patients or their doctors, Singh said.

The SpinDx platform has several advantages:

Small sample size: Patients merely have to provide a pin-prick sample of blood.
Ease of use: The device uses a spinning disk, much like a CD player, to manipulate a sample. The disks contain commercially available reagents and antibodies specific to each protein marker.

Custom applications: Singh envisions a "plug and play" approach whereby the physician chooses among a "cardiac disk," "immune disk" and similar options.

Inexpensive technology: The disks — the crux of the technology — cost pennies to manufacture.

Quick response time: Results can be delivered to the physician's computer in 15 minutes.