By adding a drug-sensing molecule to human blood samples, researchers can measure drug levels with a simple digital camera.
Monitoring drug amounts in patients can avoid side effects, but the process requires specialized resources. Now, Kai Johnsson at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and his colleagues have used a digital camera and software to quantify blood levels of a cancer drug bound to a specially designed bioluminescent sensor protein. The sensor, which changes from red to blue (pictured) with increasing drug levels, can be tailored to other drugs, and could allow easy, low-cost drug monitoring by physicians and patients, the authors say.
Nature Chem. Biol. http://doi.org/s5b (2014)
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Easy monitoring of drug by camera. Nature 510, 191 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/510191b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/510191b
