Mini GC-MS Detects TB

Time reports that Colin Pillinger and his colleague Geraint Morgan have developed a mini GC-MS capable of detecting tuberculosis. The device they have come up with requires little maintenance and should be much cheaper than full-sized GCMS models, Time reports. The GCMS researchers are confident that their device will diagnose the disease more effectively. It works by breaking apart a sample into ions, which it can then precisely identify based on their mass. Morgan and Pillinger's device is designed to search for particles from the distinctive waxy coating on the TB's cell wall.