Washington State University researchers have developed a low-cost portable laboratory on a smartphone that can analyze several samples at once to catch a cancer biomarker, producing lab-quality results.

The research team, led by Lei Li, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, created an eight-channel smartphone spectrometer that can detect human interleukin-6, a known biomarker for lung, prostate, liver, breast and epithelial cancers. A spectrometer analyzes the amount and types of chemicals in a sample by measuring the light spectrum.

Illustration of the smartphone spectrometer device. Image credit: WSU.Although smartphone spectrometers exist, they monitor or measure only a single sample at a time, making them inefficient for many real-world applications. Li’s multichannel spectrometer can measure up to eight different samples at once using a colorimetric test enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which identifies antibodies and color change as disease markers.

Although Li’s group has used the smartphone spectrometer only with standard lab-controlled samples, their device has been up to 99% accurate. The researchers are now applying their portable spectrometer to real-world situations.

“With our eight-channel spectrometer, we can put eight different samples to do the same test, or one sample in eight different wells to do eight different tests,” says Li. “The spectrometer would be especially useful in clinics and hospitals that have a large number of samples without onsite labs or for doctors who practice abroad or in remote areas. They can’t carry a whole lab with them; they need a portable and efficient device.”

The team's design works with an iPhone 5. They are now creating an adjustable design that will be compatible with any smartphone.