Imagine being able to conduct a number of simple medical tests at home without the need to go to the lab. That is precisely what Cue embodies. It’s a lab-in-a-box pack that enables you to perform a number of tests and get results on a smartphone app.
This is exactly the kind of medical advancement that has long been waited for. With everything going mobile thanks to the smartphones, it was only a matter of time. We have seen fitness trackers, sensors which are able to calculate many different aspects of human body and its performance in real time. Now, thanks to Cue, you can also determine whether or not your muscles are suffering inflammation, whether or not your current diet fits you well and a whole lot of other similar things, based on actual data gathered from your body cells.
According to the co-founder of Cue, Ayub Khattak, “We’ve used some time tested basics, so the things that you find in the lab right now — in particular antibody based, very specific targeting of molecules, that’s how tests are run today at the lab. What we’ve done is we’ve taken that concept — that fundamental principle — and we’ve used biosensors and microfluidics to make it so that we can execute those basics in a very compact, very automated way.”
Khattak further says that the Cue kit is able to turn biological samples into electrical signals which are then posted on the accompanying app. Initially, the kit comes with five cartridges, those for tests related to fertility, Vitamin D, flu, testosterone and inflammation. Eventually, though, the Cue team aims to bring a whole lot of other tests to this kit.
The data aggregated by Cue is very accurate, Khattak says. According to him, the kit has already been tested exhaustively and that the team behind it is currently in the process of having it approved from FDA.
The best thing about Cue is that it is very affordable. It is essentially a mini-lab which is currently available for pre-orders. The first thousand pre-orders are available for a price tag of $199 while the actual retail price is eventually going to be $300. In the starter kit, buyers will get Cue, five cartridges for different tests and five sample wands to extract the specimens. Buyers can get more cartridges which are going to vary in price.
Flu test cartridges, for example, will eventually be retailed for $30 for a three-pack while cartridges for all other tests will cost $20 per five-pack. The accompanying app is going to be absolutely free.
Cue’s other co-founder, Clint Sever, reveals why the technology his team is offering is revolutionary. In his own words, “You’ve never been able to have this kind of health information on demand and then be able to connect it to people and physicians at will via your smartphone. It’s this incredible connection of your body to your network and the people in your network that we’ve never seen before.”
Cue is a true game-changer in that it is the first step towards making medical testing of sorts truly mobile. Imagine being able to perform all sorts of medical tests right at your home through a fully-automated process. While Cue is currently limited to five types of tests, it will eventually be possible to perform even the complex lab tests with the help of a small gadget and see detailed results on your smartphone.
Courtesy: TechCrunch
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