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As part of the general discussion group, we posted a link to an article on SciDev.Net describing an alternative platform for diagnostics: fabric http://www.scidev.net/en/health/news/fabric-diagnostic-chips-could-detect-deadly-diseases.html. This concept was the work of Dhananjaya Dendukuri, a scientist at Achira Labs (Bangalore), who has been working with local artisanal weavers in India to create a low-cost, ecologically friendly platform for diagnostic tests. Funding for this novel approach came from Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of an initiative to bring rapid diagnostic tools that can perform multiple analyses to rural communities in the developing world. Attached is an article entitled “’Fab-Chips’: a versatile, fabric-based platform for low-cost, rapid and multiplexed diagnostics” published in Lab on a Chip demonstrating the ability to create sensitive fabric diagnostics.