Iranian Company Develops LOAD System for Rapid Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

“In our company, we worked on a new technology called Lab-On-a-Disk or laboratory on a disk (LOAD). This product works in such a way that the entire process that is carried out in a medical diagnostic laboratory is implemented on a human sample, on a disk,” said Abbas Ramyar, a faculty member of Noshirvan University of Technology in Babol and the chairman of the board of directors of the company.

“Our platform is designed based on Lab-on-a-Disk technology and includes a disk that has microchannels and multiple reservoirs. One of these reservoirs is intended for the entry of the blood sample and the other for the antibodies used in the diagnostic process,” he added.

Noting that all solutions that need to be added to the system by the operator at different stages are pre-loaded in separate reservoirs on the disk, Ramyar added that the system also includes a disk player that controls the movement of fluids inside the disk.

Lab-on-a-Disk technology, or LOAD for short, is one of the important sub-branches of microfluidics technologies, which aims to perform medical and biological experiments on a small and portable disk similar to a CD or DVD. By utilizing centrifugal force, this technology allows for multiple laboratory steps such as separation, identification, detection and analysis of samples (e.g. blood, urine, saliva) using just one disk.

High speed in performing tests in a few minutes, no need for large laboratory equipment, low cost and suitable for underserved areas, easy portability, and simultaneous performance of multiple tests on one are some of the advantages of Lab-on-a-Disk technology.

This platform can be used for rapid diagnosis of diseases, including COVID-19, cancer, infections, etc., health monitoring in rural areas or without laboratories, urgent medical tests in ambulances or on the battlefield, as well as pharmaceutical and clinical research.

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