Fast culture has some good things going for it, too. Rapid diagnosis enables the sick to obtain treatment more quickly and begin the correct medication.
Using the current fast tests infections can be tracked down and even a heart attack recognised. Cancer and AIDS researchers on the other hand are coming up with their own tests which can also be used for drug testing.
Fast tests are manufactured worldwide by about three hundred firms. Each of these is faced by the tough challenge of finding an accurate and affordable piece of equipment, the technology of which can interpret the message sent by the tests. Born under the University of Jyväskylä's wing, Magnasense Oy has developed a reading device suitable for the purpose. It makes use of nanoparticles, which allow the user to recognise concentrations of pathogens in the body.
The technology developed by Magnasense expands the potential uses of fast tests, since normal fast tests that have to be read with the human eye do not provide exact or quantitative information. Magnasense's device technology is thus well suited to follow-up studies of treatment and examination of precise masses.
The competitively priced and small-sized reader allows many tests that previously could only be performed in the laboratory to be brought closer to the patient: initially to doctors' surgeries and in the future into ordinary homes as well.
"In the initial stage we are interested in tests associated with the monitoring of health during pregnancy as well as muscular inflammation, bacteria and virus tests. These areas are interesting because it is precisely here that rapid diagnosis is of greatest benefit to the patient", says Magnasense Oy's managing director Mika Laitinen.
According to market research commissioned by the company the international diagnostics market possesses large growth expectations.
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Photo: "Magnasense's device technology is ideal for establishing precise concentrations of pathogens", states Mika Laitinen.
By Pia Tervoja Photo by Petteri Kivimäki