RESEARCH IS underway which would see iPhones ‘diagnose’ a person’s medical problems by analysing a sample of the user’s saliva, blood or urine.

New Scientist reports that researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daedeok are developing a means of using touchscreen devices as “highly-sensitive detection platforms for disease biomarkers”.

According to a study published in Angewandte Chemie by KAIST professors Hyun Gyu Park and Byoung Yeon Won, a cheap disposable microchip device could search a drop of fluid for signs of disease. The chip could then be read by a phone by pressing it against the touchscreen for an app to analyse the chip’s information and detect the illness.

The researchers acknowledged that another screen is being considered for covering the phone surface during the chip’s reading because most people are unlikely to want direct contact between their fluid sample and their phone.

Earlier this year, the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine announced new research had shown that doctors could use an iPhone medical image app to make acute stroke diagnosis with the same degree of accuracy as if they were using a medical computer workstation.