Researchers at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and the Genome Institute of Singapore said the device could be deployed in affected regions for pre-emptive surveillance of a nascent avian flu epidemic.

IBN research scientist Juergen Pipper, the project leader, said, "With our device, medical or humanitarian aid workers would be able to detect the presence of the H5N1 virus directly from throat swab samples on-site in less than half an hour."

The device comprises a unique platform developed by IBN that uses magnetic force to manipulate individual droplets containing silica-coated magnetic particles.

"The novelty of our method lies in the way that the droplet itself becomes a pump, valve, mixer, solid-phase extractor and real-time thermocycler," said Pipper. "Complex biochemical tasks can thus be processed in a fashion similar to that of a traditional biological laboratory on a miniature scale."

He said tests have shown the platform is as sensitive as and around 10 times faster than available tests and potentially 40 to 100 times cheaper.

The research appears in the journal Nature Medicine.