Two undergraduate students from the Rice University have created a fully fledged centrifuge for blood separation using a salad mixer. If their plan to market the device succeeds, then the inexpensive instrument could be used in nations that lack healthcare infrastructure in rural areas, such as Africa and India.

The two students say the device can diagnose anemia without power and at low cost. To operate, test tubes containing 15 µL of blood are spun for about 10 minutes. The heavier heavier blood cells separate from the lighter plasma, whch is precisely what happens in an electric centrifuge. The difference is that the new device requires no electricity. The device is portable, meaning it can be brought to areas that lack such resources.