An idea that started with a beer at an Australian National University bar could soon help doctors save millions of lives.

A team of research engineers and biochemists at the university has invented and trialled a bio-optics diagnostic device that can help doctors identify patients at imminent risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

The device reveals the formation of blood clots by creating a 3D digital hologram from a blood sample in a fraction of a second.

Dr Steve Lee and associate professor Elizabeth Gardiner, who met up for a beer and came up with the idea for a diagnostics device that can help doctors identify patients at imminent risk of a heart attack or stroke. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

It has traditionally been difficult to predict the formation of a blood clot because the major drivers behind them, platelets, are just 10 per cent of the size of a regular cell and clump together within seconds when triggered.