Barriers to getting a blood test can be numerable, but infectious disease specialist Robert Bollinger is hoping to overcome those obstacles with a “lab on a chip.”

Through a project called miLab, Bollinger, an international team of Johns Hopkins scientists and silicon chip engineers in Belgium are aiming to create a device that will test blood quickly and inexpensively, at home or in a clinic, for a variety of conditions.

So far, they’ve designed a 1.5-cubic-inch mechanism that detects hepatitis C, provides a complete blood count and performs other common blood tests. Their goal is to develop an even smaller single-use device that can send results—wirelessly or via a cable—to a smartphone, tablet, computer or similar device in 10 minutes, for $10 or less, using a small amount of blood.

“We’re not there yet, but that’s where we’re heading,” says Bollinger, who’s working with Johns Hopkins doctors to identify the conditions most in need of rapid testing.

Bollinger has long dreamed of crafting an affordable device for quick front-line testing. It began to seem like a possibility three years ago, when he was invited by Belgium-based IMEC—a global leader in silicon chip engineering research—to discuss how to collaborate with Johns Hopkins.

As a result of the meeting, Bollinger assembled a research team at Johns Hopkins and, with IMEC, helped start miDiagnostics to support the miLab project and commercialize prototype devices.

Bollinger estimates that it could take three years or more to develop the miLab diagnostics platform—which will require approval from the FDA and other international regulatory agencies—into marketable products. Until then, Bollinger looks forward to when low-cost, simple, reliable and disposable blood tests are only a few steps away, anywhere in the world.