Centrifuges are universal machines routinely used in every lab in order to spin solutions at high speeds to separate liquids, such as blood, into different components. While they are easily available in developed countries, they are expensive and bulky to be used in developing countries, especially where stable electrical supply is a luxury. The field of rapid diagnostics is getting cheaper thanks to frequent technological advancements and improving manufacturing techniques.

Sometimes, though, looking to an age-old practice might hold all the solutions needed for a modern-day problem. A team from Stanford University, from the same lab that came up with the foldscope, a microscope designed to cost less than $1 to make, has derived inspiration from an ancient buzzer toy called a whirlgig to develop a paper-based low-cost power-free version of a centrifuge called the paperfuge. A study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, details the theoretical calculations of how the paperfuge works and the speeds that can be generated using manual techniques alone. In 1.5 minutes, the device successfully separated plasma from blood, in levels comparable to that of a 2 minute cycle in a commercial centrifuge. Moreover, as a pilot, the team separated malaria parasites from blood in 15 minutes, a time-frame comparable to commercial centrifuges. Doing the same with the sample inside a transparent vesicle having an acridine orange dye coating resulted in malaria being visible under a microscope. Perhaps coupled with the foldscope, one can have a start to a beautiful laboratory.

With small tweaks to the device, the team perceives it being used for several other clinical applications and more complex assays. Such a low-cost simple device could easily make its way into science education as well!

Here’s a Stanford video with the engineers responsible for the centrifuge:

Study in Nature Biomedical Engineering: Hand-powered ultralow-cost paper centrifuge…

Via: Stanford…