The newly designed Johns Hopkins Blood Test method could also be adapted for home use.
The traditional way of diagnosing heart attacks has its own set of challenges. The process involves a combination of tests, including electrocardiograms, which take hours. Also, the whole thing is nearly impossible outside of a clinical setting. To solve this issue, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US have designed a new blood test tool.
The new tool, currently called the Johns Hopkins University Blood Test, can diagnose heart attacks within minutes and can be used in both clinical settings and at home. Also, according to the researchers, it's more accurate and more affordable than the traditional methods. Although designed to diagnose heart attacks primarily, this could detect cancer and other infectious diseases as well.
The study was published in the journal, Advanced Science. Lead author Peng Zheng, an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University, said in a statement, "Heart attacks require immediate medical intervention in order to improve patient outcomes, but while early diagnosis is critical, it can also be very challenging—and near impossible outside of a clinical setting. We were able to invent a new technology that can quickly and accurately establish if someone is having a heart attack.”
The Science & Technology Of Johns Hopkins Blood Test
The researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the brains behind the new tool, specialize in developing diagnostic tools via biophotonics, which is a method of detecting biomarkers through laser light. Using this technology, the researchers identified the earliest signs of a heart attack in a patient's blood. Notably, this is very challenging (or at least was till now) due to the varying symptoms and subtle biological signals.
The tool's concept is based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), in which "the molecule-specific but inherently weak Raman fingerprint signals from a sample are amplified by attaching the molecules to a patterned nanostructured surface". Notably, the SERS has been used in several applications so far, including atmospheric monitoring and screening of COVID-19 patients.
The toolconsists of a tiny chip containing a nanostructured metasurface. Blood is tested on this metasurface, which has a hexagonally periodic pattern of meta-atoms, each built from gold and silica, and featuring sharp vertices and edges. The metasurface provides electric and magnetic signals during the analysis process, allowing heart attack biomarkers visible in seconds - even in ultra-low concentrations.
According to the researchers, this test's sensitivity is far better than the traditional tests, detecting the seemingly undetectable heart attack biomarkers with accuracy.
What Lies Ahead?
As already mentioned, the new blood test tool can be adapted for home use as well. And that opens doors to a whole new world of possibilities. It can be extensively used in remote areas with very limited healthcare infrastructure.
On the other hand, the researchers believe that this tool has remarkable commercial potential, and "there’s nothing that limits this platform technology".
Now, they are looking to refine the method further and conduct bigger clinical trials on it.
