Miami scientists are now building smartphones capable of diagnosing cancer.

The new headquarters for portable disease diagnostics is now situated in the neighborhoods of  Overtown and Allapattah.

Dr. Obdulio Piloto, a Cuban-American doctor, brought his lab to the University of Miami's Life Science and Technology Park. He's developing a proprietary apparatus using the advanced and cutting edge nanotechnology.

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Entopsis, Dr. Piloto's lab, has the goal of developing and providing a cost-efficient and accurate test for any disease using any liquid sample. This test can be done anywhere in the world without a doctor being needed.

The device is called Nutec. It's the size of a piece of chewing gum and looks much like a microscope slide.

"[The Nutec] looks like a simple piece of glass, but it's very complicated at the molecular level," Dr. Piloto says.

The Nutec device is covered with 50 to 500 tiny crater-like dots. These dots are full of pockets with varying shapes and sizes.

It works when a liquid like urine, saliva, or blood is put onto the slide. This liquid forms colors and patterns based on how its molecules bind onto the slide's pockets.

Entopsis looks to build a health-intelligence system using cloud computing where a Nutec algorithm can compare results with samples in a library. Nutec is returned to the patient, letting him or her know if they have any disease.

Dr. Piloto says the algorithm, analysis and extractions are complete. The only thing Entopsis is working on now is the creation of an attractive user interface.

While the technology has the potential to affect millions of lives, there's still an ongoing debate as to the contact aspect of it.

Fellow scientists say that science can't be isolated from the social sciences and that people just don't want a machine telling them they have cancer.

Instead, Nutec has to blend into the world of medicine.

The Hippocratic conviction says that apart from just diagnosing and curing, the quality of the patient's lives must be improved. In order to do that, people need human contact. 

TagsOvertown, Allapattah, Obdulio PIloto, Diagnose cancer, Nutec, Entopsis