Development and Validation of an Accessible, Rapid Calcium Monitoring Diagnostic

Overview

Currently, testing calcium in the blood requires a hyper - or hypocalcemic patient to visit a healthcare facility and wait 4 -5 days before receiving results. This is not only inconvenient but also time-consuming, especially in situations that could be life -threatening. Therefore, through repurposing off -the-shelf methods of curr ent ion measurement practices, it is proposed that a more efficient and less time-consuming way of measuring calcium levels is plausible. This study is conducted to investigate the making of an efficient, accessible calcium measuring device using repurposed ISEs for the challenges of timely diagnosis and accessible management of calcium disorders like hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia. Whereas most of the currently used methods of diagnosis, like the traditional laboratory tests and even ISEs, have issues with delays and accessibility, this study focuses on the creation of a portable and rapid testing solution. This project involves the development and testing of a reused ion-selective electrode (ISE) to quantify calcium concentrations in a rapid and accessible way, attempting to avoid the limitations of standard methods. In this work, a quantitative experimental method is used to develop an improvised ISE to achieve results within 24 hours and make it suitable for use outside the laboratory environment. The device's performance in timeliness, accessibility, and accuracy was also contrasted with the gold -standard HORIBA LAQUAtwin Ca -11. Results show quick results within the preferred timescale. While accuracy was promising in most experiments, with positive correlations to the gold standard, anomalous findings were realized in a single experiment, indicating that additional optimization is necessary.

Competition history

• JSHS 2025 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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