Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Anemia Quickly Detected by 3D-printed Device

By R&D Editors | February 26, 2016

Kim Plevniak, master's student in biological and agricultural engineering at the Kansas State University Olathe campus, is using 3D printers to make low cost, point-of-care devices that quickly detect anemia from a drop of blood.Identifying a blood disorder may be as easy as running a blood sample from a finger prick under a smartphone. That is the concept behind a new biomedical device being developed by Kansas State University researchers.

Kim Plevniak, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering at the Kansas State University Olathe campus, and Mei He, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, are working on a low cost, point-of-care device for home use. Point-of-care devices give the user fast, easy-to-understand results from a test performed outside of a lab, such as a blood glucose test or pregnancy test.

The device is made with a 3D printer and designed to detect anemia for individuals who have limited access to health care, such as those living in developing countries. Anemia is a condition in which the blood does not have enough healthy red blood cells to transport oxygen to the body’s organs. It affects 2 billion people worldwide, including more than half of preschool children and pregnant women in developing countries and at least 30 percent of children and women in industrialized nations.

“Anemia is a very prevalent condition in developing countries even though it is easily treated with iron supplements or vitamins and can be prevented with a healthy diet,” Plevniak says. “Often in these developing countries people will have much easier access to smartphones than they will to doctors and trained medical professionals.”

Plevniak has spent nearly a year designing an inexpensive prototype device and test that taps into smartphone access.

The device consists of 3D printed clear plastic slides containing microfluidics that attach to a smartphone. The user adds a drop of their blood to a slide, which is used for a color scale-based test. The test results are produced in less than 60 seconds and can be read using a smartphone, Plevniak says.

The researchers are developing a companion app with Steve Warren, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at Kansas State University, that could manage data from the blood sample and even send the results to a doctor.

Plevniak and He recently received approval to begin receiving and testing patient samples from the University of Kansas Medical Center. This will help researchers optimize the device for diagnosing different levels of anemia in human blood.

An invention disclosure for the proof-of-concept device has been filed with the Kansas State University Research Foundation, a nonprofit corporation responsible for managing technology transfer activities for the university.

Source: Kansas State University 

Related Articles Read More >

Caltech team 3D-prints drug depots deep inside living tissue
What could make MXene a key to ultra-precise, additive-free 3D microprinting?
Industry 4.0 Modern Factory: Facility Operator Controls Workshop Production Line, Uses Computer with Screens Showing Complex UI of Machine Operation Processes, Controllers, Machinery Blueprints
Building the thinking factory: An additive exec on AI, automation, and the skills crisis
Red Bull and Mercedes F1 cars 3D illustration, 30 Aug, 2022, Texas, EUA
6 technologies pushing Formula 1’s engineering frontier
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE