[richardbrevig]

I was wondering about the need for staining. Is there potential that they could stain the blood sample and potentially get a result? I'm speaking relatively hypothetically.

This is at least more in the right direction than what I had seen previously.

I saw much worse a few months ago at a competition I was in. The winning team "created" a device (that looked like a USB key). They claimed that if you had a sore throat you could take a sample with a q-tip, insert into the device, and it would magically determine the presence of an infection. Those were their words. I was horrified and when I approached the organizers afterwards they didn't understand my explanation on why it was not possible. Indeed, after that time as I have spoken about it most people do not understand that it's not currently possible. Sci-fi blurs the realm of possibility for many and it seems reasonable to them. Back to the actual contest, mine was an "idea competition" and not a YC Hackathon.

Tanay's idea is leaps and bounds closer to the realm of possibility than the idea behind the other team I witnessed. For that, his age, and his other work on his startup clipped.me, I congratulate him and look forward to seeing him come up with something truly useful in the future.

[ihnorton]

The Oxford Nanopore Minion is "usb scale": https://www.nanoporetech.com/technology/the-minion-device-a-...

Not quite built in a weekend, but certainly within the realm of possibility.

[Brakenshire]

Just for context, Oxford Nanopore have struggled a fair bit with getting this device to work. They have recently released quite promising prototype devices, but the project is many years behind schedule. Albeit that isn't surprising given what a massive shift in technology it is.

[ihnorton]

Oh, sure, but no one thinks they are violating the laws of physics anymore. It's "just" engineering now to get the accuracy and sustained-read lengths high enough.

[vobios]

Although many years behind schedule, it's still far more advanced than any other sequencing technology on the market.

[gone35]

Yes, I think so. As others pointed out earlier, portable devices with immobilized reagents like pregnancy tests or glucose monitors already show the concept is (in principle) feasible; and there's been a lot of recent work dedicated to miniaturizing and integrating all steps of critical assays, including even the most elaborate ones [1]. It's pretty impressive stuff, so I expect a breakthrough anytime soon.

I definitely agree though it's a commendably well-thought-out project in itself, especially for the usual techno-bubbly standards of Silicon Valley hackatons of late.

[1] http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddoc...

[vobios]

Why is that not possible? A standard home pregnancy test is small, takes a few minutes, and is fairly reliable at detecting human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). If you can find an antibody specific for a particular infection, you can make a similar test. It's mostly useless, but certainly possible.

[richardbrevig]

If you're asking about the competition I was in, with the "miracle device," I forgot to mention that they gave multiple examples of what it could detect. Sore throat, ear infection, etc. The pregnancy test you mention is determined by a single use hormone detection. It's a chemical reaction dependent on one specific hormone being detected, not multiple hormones or multiple antibodies. For comparison, a urinalysis strip has multiple markings on it each for a different test. And they're not reusable. Whereas this just "magically" knew that you had Streptococcus pneumoniae or Haemophilus influenzae present--no demo, no explanation of how.