Low Cost or Close to No Cost Diagnosis Using Cheap Paper - TED

George Whitesides, the Chemist from Harvard has a profile that can be read here. He is discussing using paper for more diagnostic tests. There’s a special printer that works with the paper to create the objects. He touches on the subject we all love to hate or hate to love, compliance. With using his Lab on a piece of paper the size of a stamp, it can be checked to see if the medication has been taken. One big problem in all of this is how do you produce a product without there being a big profit to be made he asks? BD

Traditional lab tests for disease diagnosis can be too expensive and cumbersome for the regions most in need. George Whitesides' ingenious answer, at TEDxBoston, is a foolproof tool that can be manufactured at virtually zero cost.

TED Blog: A lab the size of a postage stamp: George Whitesides on TED.com