Cue is a self-diagnostic tool that analyses a droplet of saliva, blood, or a nasal swab in real time and sends the results to your smartphone.
Image: Cue
Self-monitoring devices such as FitBit and Jawbone, which track your daily physical activity and send data to your smartphone, have become a profitable and a helpful tool in studies on issues such as obesity. These gadgets generate data that can help users gain better health, but are far from being a reliable diagnostic tool.
Cue goes a step further, digging deep into the molecular level. By analysing samples at home, Cue lets you know if you’re sick in minutes—it can tell you whether you have influenza or just a common cold, and measures your vitamin D, testosterone, inflammation, and fertility levels. All you need to do is take a sample and insert it in one of Cue’s small cartridges. The results are then sent to your smarthphone via Bluetooth, and you can share them with your doctor.
The device could also make doctor-patient communication more efficient and save time when dealing with diseases. Clint Server, Cue co-founder, told Fast Company: “It doesn't make sense to us that all that information is locked up with gatekeepers. You have to go through a doctor, you have to go through a lab. There's a wait time associated with that, there's a high cost associated with that.”
The device launches in 2015, but approval by the FDA in the United States is still pending.
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