Analysing blood chemistry from a single drop

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Mass spectrometry determine the levels of thousands of chemicals in a ‘microsample’ of human blood

A single drop of blood could soon be all that’s needed to perform a wide range of health tests. Researchers at Stanford University have been using mass spectroscopy to determine the levels of key chemicals in tiny volumes of blood.

Although the approach sounds similar to the fake technology touted by the fraudulent US biotech firm Theranos, which collapsed in 2018, the researchers peer-reviewed study describes how their method works – something Theranos never did.