#test strip

Test strip able to identify blood type in less than a minute

A team of researchers at Third Military Medical University in China has developed a test strip that can be used to identify a person's blood type in less than a minute. In their paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the team describes how the test strips work, how accurate they are and likely uses for them once they pass more stringent testing.                            

The current method for determining blood type involves taking a blood sample to a lab where a trained technician uses a centrifuge to separate and test the different blood parts—the entire process can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on circumstances. In this new effort, the researchers have created a paper-based test strip that can be used to do the same thing in under a minute by people with just a few minutes' training—and it is almost as accurate.

The paper strips developed by the team have small bits of antibodies and dyes that change colors (to teal or brown) when a drop of blood is applied. The colors change due to interactions between antigens in the blood sample and antibodies on the test strip. The strips are embedded in a plastic cas

Journal reference: Science Translational Medicine

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

...is this possible? For the General Hardness to be so high, and the Ph to be so low? It looks like there’s not a lot of KH to buffer it, but still... this seems odd. This is the tap water, by the way.