Lab on the field: Combining molecular imaging and microfluidics

A tiny molecular imaging system could be used on the field to measure brain injury or in the lab to capture individual molecules that betray the biology of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and viruses like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The Quanterix Simoa disc traps single molecules in femtoliter-scale sorters that can then by imaged via fluorescence. Each disc is comprised of 216,000 "wells." The system can be taken out on the field during a game or anywhere in the world, and imaging the trappings of these miniscule chambers can lead to zero-stage medicine--capturing conditions before they are even fully initialized.