Researchers develop smartphone-based ovulation test
(PHYSorg.com Chemistry)

Investigators from Brigham and Women`s Hospital are developing an automated, low-cost tool to predict a woman`s ovulation and aid in family planning. Capitalizing on advancements in several areas, including microfluidics, artificial intelligence (AI) and the ubiquity of smartphones, the team has built an ovulation testing tool that can automatically detect fern patterns-a marker of ovulation-in a saliva sample. The team evaluated the performance of the device using artificial saliva in the lab and validated results in human saliva samples from six subjects, observing greater than 99 percent accuracy in effectively predicting ovulation. The team`s results are published in Lab on a Chip.