What We're Doing to Combat the Zika Virus

More than 2.7 billion people live in areas where the Zika Virus may soon spread, with potentially devastating effects for infants born in those areas. In response, faculty from across the University of Washington are working to stop the spread and effects of the Zika virus using a variety of approaches and disciplines. Here are some examples of their work, some of which is funded and some of which has not yet been funded.

Scientific American: Paper Diagnostic Tests Could Save Thousands of Lives

By Prachi Patel

...Paul Yager, a biochemist at the University of Washington, meanwhile, has developed a handheld plastic device the size of two stacked card decks that contains strips of patterned paper and wells containing reagents and dyes, and into which a user would insert a fluid sample. The patterns of dots that appear after 20 minutes could be read by a clinician or sent via smartphone camera to a physician elsewhere. Yager says that the box could cost as little as $1 to manufacture in bulk.