RAPID SENSING OF BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYTES

Systems and methods are provided for the rapid sensing of biological and environmental analytes employing a portable digital image capture device, such as a smartphone camera, to capture an image of colorimetric microwave-accelerated bioassays ("MAB"), and a digital image analyzer that processes the colorimetric signals captured by the digital camera to determine the concentration of analyte in a test sample based on a calculated pixel intensity in the captured digital image. Such systems and methods may be used to detect either a disease condition or the presence of a toxin in a particular test specimen and may generate an electronic alert that may serve to alert a medical practitioner of such disease condition or presence of a toxin so that medical intervention may be undertaken. Such electronic alert may optionally be transmitted to the user of a smartphone that captured the image, thus allowing for rapid, in-situ point-of-care analysis and detection of such conditions and immediate medical intervention.