…to which Montgomery Scott immediately replied, “Now, you’re an engineer.” —Star Trek Original series, season 2, episode 4: Mirror, Mirror , October 6, 1967 The original Star Trek was trailblazing in so many ways. This was one of the first science fiction series that envisioned an idealistic future, where the problems that plagued America fifty years ago had been completely resolved—from wars to racism to sexism to poverty to inter-planetary travel. (Funny how we’re still fighting those battles.) Star Trek featured the first interracial kiss in television history. Mobile phones were first conceived of on Star Trek . The personal computer and tablet computers were first seen on Star Trek . Simultaneous translation is becoming more and more possible these days using machine learning. Automatic doors were introduced in the series. Voice activation. GPS. FaceTime and Skype. Even ion propulsion, a form of spacecraft propulsion that is real and currently in use by NASA, was inspired by an episode of Star Trek . Image not to scale And last week the University of Glasgow announced that their scientists have developed a new Star Trek -inspired diagnostic device. Their new device pairs a handheld sensor with a smartphone app to measure the levels of various metabolites in fluid samples from patients. (Metabolites are small molecules found in fluids from the human body.) By measuring and monitoring their relative abundance, scientists can keep track of general health or the progression of specific diseases. The ability to rapidly detect and quantify multiple metabolite biomarkers simultaneously makes this device particularly useful in cases of heart attack, cancer, and stroke, where rapid diagnosis is vital for effective treatment. While metabolites can currently be measured by existing processes such as nuclear magnetic resonance and hyphenated mass spectrometry techniques, these approaches are expensive and require bulky equipment which can be slow to offer diagnostic results. [1] From the paper submitted by the developers, the University of Glasgow announced: … the development of a handheld device based on complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology with multiple isolated micro-well reaction zones and integrated optical sensing allowing simultaneous enzyme-based assays of multiple metabolites (choline, xanthine, sarcosine and cholesterol) associated with multiple diseases.[2] Dr. Samadhan Patil of the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering is the lead author on the paper. This device was designed using the Cadence Virtuoso ® custom IC design platform and fabricated at Austria Microsystems on a 350nm triple-well process. On these, the active area is 16 × 16 array sensors covering 1.6 × 1.6mm in total. Each pixel includes a photodiode, working with LEDs mounted elsewhere. The chips were bonded onto a large ceramic package, onto which a circular reservoir around 20mm across was formed to hold fluids, centered on the chip. [3] You can see a photo of the device here . So the chip is smaller than your fingertip and is divided into multiple reaction zones to detect and quantify four metabolites simultaneously from body fluids such as blood plasma (serum) or urine. Granted, it’s not quite the point-and-shoot tricorders used in Star Trek but using handheld devices to detect four vital components of our body is a huge step forward in getting there. Professor David Cumming from Glasgow University said: Handheld, inexpensive diagnostic devices capable of accurately measuring metabolites open up a wide range of applications for medicine, and with this latest development we've taken an important step closer to bringing such a device to market. Another announcement along these lines is NASA signing two patent license agreements with GRoK Technologies of Houston. According to the press release , NASA is “interested in the potential these technologies present for regenerating bone and muscle.” It wants this tissue regeneration technology to help astronauts during long interplanetary travel when they “are susceptible to developing osteopenia, which is a condition arising from the loss of bone and muscle mass and bone density.” The products that GRoK wants to build sound even crazier: The first is called BioReplicates, a technology that will create “3-D human tissue models that can be used to test cosmetics, drugs and other products for safety, efficacy, and toxicity.” Not only this will save animals’ lives, claims NASA, but it will serve to test substances on human tissue “with greater accuracy, reliability, and cost-efficiency.” The second one is called Scionic, a technology that GRoK claims could result in the “development of medical devices designed to target musculoskeletal pain and inflammation in humans and animals noninvasively and without the use of pharmaceuticals.” [4] Sounds to me just like the second use for a tricorder—not only diagnosing illnesses but curing them. With these announcements, the lines between doctor and engineer are blurring, so you’re not likely to hear a doctor utter the immortal words of Dr. “Bones” McCoy: “Jim, I’m a doctor, not an engineer!” Call me, though, when the transporter is perfected… —Meera Referenced Articles [1] Star Trek-inspired diagnostic device developed for medical applications [2] An integrated portable system for single chip simultaneous measurement of multiple disease associated metabolites (abstract) [3] Glasgow Builds Fast Bio-Marker Detector [4] NASA Technology to Help Develop Noninvasive Medical Treatments Articles I Read for This Post Amazing Ways That 'Star Trek' Changed the World Glasgow University checks health of Tricorder device Star Trek-inspired diagnostic device developed Scientists develop Star Trek-inspired diagnostic device University of Glasgow Unveils Star Trek-Inspired Diagnostic Device![]()
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