For basic routine tests, a pathologist drains out about 10 to 15 milliliters of blood into several vials. These are then worked upon to deliver confirmed reports the following day. Now this can be tormenting as a patient can be bothered with the anxiety of the results. And when the tests are cancer related, matters get worse. However a new technology aims to reduce this anxiety at least by offering the results in just 10 minutes. And all that this latest microfluidic chip needs is a drop of blood. It is being developed by Caltech’s chemistry professor James Heath, in conjunction with the Leroy Hood, the founder of Institute for Systems Biology. The chip performs the entire test, separating cells and proteins, and tagging the proteins so that they'll light up under a microscope if anything is found.

Kevin from Dvice also reports that such a technology will make it possible for doctors to give a bedside diagnosis based on blood analysis, rather than having to wait a week. Even better, it analyzes blood when it's fresh, rather than letting the quality of the sample degrade, making it far more accurate.

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