BiliQuant

BiliQuant: A Point-of-Care Jaundice Diagnostic for the Developing World

 

Member profile details

Membership level
2013-2014 Team
Project Thumbnail Image
Team Name
BiliQuant
Project Title
BiliQuant: A Point-of-Care Jaundice Diagnostic for the Developing World
Design Challenge
Jaundice affects 60% of all infants worldwide and is characterized by the yellowing of the skin. In the developed world, jaundice is easily diagnosed and treated. However, hospitals in developing countries lack the resources to accurately diagnose jaundice, and untreated jaundice can lead to permanent brain damage.

Our solution, BiliQuant, is a low-cost, point-of-care device that can accurately diagnose jaundice. BiliQuant reads a paper-based strip to measure the concentration of bilirubin, the blood protein that causes jaundice. It then provides the physician with a numerical readout to ensure accurate diagnosis, all for less than 1 cent per test.
Design Summary
We have developed a two-component approach to determine bilirubin concentration: 1) A paper-based cuvette for plasma isolation from whole blood samples and 2) A spectrophotometric device to read the absorbance of bilirubin within the acquired plasma. In doing so, we avoid the use of lab equipment and reagents that make implementation difficult in low-resource settings.

Additionally, our novel paper-based cuvette method for plasma isolation has the potential to facilitate the diagnosis of other conditions in developing settings via spectrophotometry. As a whole, our strategy harnesses optics and microfluidics to enable low-cost and accurate diagnosis of jaundice.
Sponsors
Beyond Traditional Borders
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Department(s)
  • Global Health Technologies
  • Bioengineering
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Faculty Advisor 1 - Name
Maria Oden
Faculty Advisor 1 - Department
  • BIOE
Faculty Advisor 2 - Name
Eric Richardson
Faculty Advisor 2 - Department
  • BIOE
 

Team Members

Award(s) and Recognition
Design of Medical Devices Conference Undergraduate Poster Competition: 1st Place

2014 Brown School of Engineering Design Showcase and Poster Competition: Excellence in Capstone Engineering Design Award
ASME Innovation Showcase: 2nd Place

Rice Undergraduate Venture Challenge: 2nd Place

Rice ECE Affiliates Day: 3rd Place Undergraduate Poster

Houston Global Health Collaborative Conference: "Most Impactful"

Stanford BASES Social E-Challenge: Rounds 1 and 2 Presenter
Winner

Contact us

Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen
Rice University

6100 Main Street MS 390 | Houston, Texas | 77005

Phone: 713.348.OEDK

Email: oedk@rice.edu

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