>Yes, I think this will be the next big thing. The in-your-pocket
>pathogen analyser using mini-PCR and DNA-chips I discussed on
>another thread seems to be feasible, the biomedical researcher I
>talked with tonight didn't see any problem, except that she didn't
>believe there was a market for it :-)
Eugene Leitl <eugene@liposome.genebee.msu.su> adds:
>I've been talking with a molbio-friend of mine (he's sequencing
>archae) about using near-field proximal probe optics on
>fluorescent-tag-nucleotide DNA polymerase reaction for sequencing
>purposes about a year ago. If we can tweak polymerases into
>yielding current-reaction information & amplify it to macro
>scales, cheap palmtop DNA sequencers would become possible. Only
>a matter of time, this.
Actually home medical devices are a very popular market, ever since
the first home blood pressure kits became available, and of course
home pregnancy tests, and now, home cholesterol tests. I guess not
so surprising in this hypochondriac society of ours where people go
running to the doctor for antibiotics at the first sniffle.
Two of the more recent popular devices, a device that gives instant
temperature readings by reading it off the inner ear, and a new
device that uses a combination of infrared/ultrasound to detect
fluid buildup in the inner ear.
These make very extropian gifts by the way, and especially for
friends with young children.
I think these area's (home testing equipment and kits) will
continue to show above average growth. I will be investing
accordingly.
Brian
Member,Extropy Institute