New Low-Cost Centrifuge: The "Paperfuge"

Eliza Mahoney
Mr. Gray
Honors Physics Per. G
11 January 2017
Blog Post #4

A new design for a centrifuge has been created that is very cheap and based off the design of a childhood toy, a whirligig. The new design has been called "paperfuge" and could be used as a health device or educational tool.

A common laboratory-grade centrifuge, without the new "paperfuge" design

The details of the design were just recently published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. 

The purpose of a centrifuge is to separate materials by spinning samples incredibly fast. Clinical centrifuges, for example, are extremely helpful in blood testing or the analysis of DNA samples. A current laboratory-grade centrifuge can cost thousands of dollars and requires electricity, making it an unrealistic resource in low-income schools, hospitals and any countries with limited resources. 

Bioengineers from Stanford University worked with scientist Manu Prakash, who specializes in designing cheap medical devices for countries with little to no electricity access. The toy he was inspired by is a whirligig, which dates back to 3,300 B.C. It consists of twine looped through both holes of a button. When the twine's ends are pulled, the button spins quickly. The research team used this to create a centrifuge based on manpower, not electricity. The new design reaches speeds of up to 30,000 g, which is right around the capacity of laboratory-grade centrifuges. The "paperfuge" may even be able to reach greater speeds, the creators say. 

Basic whirligig design

The centrifuge is also small and requires 20 cents to create. The mechanism can separate blood in under two minutes and can detect and isolate malaria in 15 minutes. As malaria parasites are a raging issue in countries with limited income and resources, this could be an incredibly influential change in the way hospitals and labs work in these countries. 

Manu Prakash working with the paperfuge

This new, low-cost "paperfuge" hopefully will help health care workers in low-income countries and a useful resource in underfunded schools. 

Manu Prakash introducing the paperfuge, demonstrating how it works and discussing its purpose