Two labs, one question.

A molecular diagnostic has three hard parts: get the target out of a messy sample, amplify it enough to see, and read the result. Each one normally demands its own instrument, and every instrument you add is another reason the test never leaves a hospital.

The Florida work attacks the first part. A lateral filter array separates rare cells from whole blood by geometry rather than by centrifuge, and if you can predict capture efficiency from channel dimensions you can design the device instead of iterating blind. The London work attacks the second and third. If a hydration exotherm can hold a reaction at temperature and a swelling membrane can time the transfer, the amplification step stops needing a heater and a technician.

I am interested in the version of this where all three parts fit in something disposable. My current project at UF, a sequential reagent release platform using microfluidic ball valves for multiplexed HIV, dengue, and Zika detection, is the first attempt at stitching them together.