Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Gold nanoparticles in skin drug delivery: a bibliometric analysis of research trends from 2015 to 2025.

Frontiers in medical technology·2026

Same author

Unidirectional Evaporation-Induced Tunable and Continuous Gradient Composite Structure for Absorption-Dominant Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2026

Same author

Role of metal nanomaterials in wound healing - a review.

Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology·2026

Same author

Machine learning-augmented lateral flow assays for point-of-care infectious disease diagnostics.

Lab on a chip·2026

Same author

Development and kinetic evaluation of vitamin C-loaded contact lenses prepared by a simple soaking technique.

Frontiers in medical technology·2026

Same author

Co-invasion of three invasive alien plants increases plant taxonomic diversity and community invasibility.

Plant diversity·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 21, 2025

Author Spotlight: Development of a Smartphone-Enhanced Paper-Based Device for Rapid Dengue NS1 Detection

Author Spotlight: Development of a Smartphone-Enhanced Paper-Based Device for Rapid Dengue NS1 Detection

Published on: January 26, 2024

Smartphone-based colorimetric detection system for portable health tracking.

Samira Balbach¹, Nan Jiang², Rosalia Moreddu³

¹Institute for Measurement Systems and Sensor Technology, Technical University of Munich, Munich 80333, Germany.

Analytical Methods : Advancing Methods and Applications

|September 8, 2021

Summary

A new smartphone app, Colourine, improves at-home urinalysis using colorimetric test strips. It minimizes ambient light errors, enhancing accuracy for pH, protein, and glucose detection.

More Related Videos

Low-Cost, Volume-Controlled Dipstick Urinalysis for Home-Testing

Low-Cost, Volume-Controlled Dipstick Urinalysis for Home-Testing

Published on: May 8, 2021

Author Spotlight: An Alternative Approach to Protein Quantification by Bradford Assay Using a Smartphone

Author Spotlight: An Alternative Approach to Protein Quantification by Bradford Assay Using a Smartphone

Published on: September 8, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Oct 21, 2025

Author Spotlight: Development of a Smartphone-Enhanced Paper-Based Device for Rapid Dengue NS1 Detection

Author Spotlight: Development of a Smartphone-Enhanced Paper-Based Device for Rapid Dengue NS1 Detection

Published on: January 26, 2024

Low-Cost, Volume-Controlled Dipstick Urinalysis for Home-Testing

Low-Cost, Volume-Controlled Dipstick Urinalysis for Home-Testing

Published on: May 8, 2021

Author Spotlight: An Alternative Approach to Protein Quantification by Bradford Assay Using a Smartphone

Author Spotlight: An Alternative Approach to Protein Quantification by Bradford Assay Using a Smartphone

Published on: September 8, 2023

Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Analytical Chemistry
Mobile Health

Background:

Colorimetric urinalysis test strips offer cost-effective, practical at-home health monitoring.
Integrating these sensors with digital systems, especially smartphones, faces challenges due to ambient light interference and low sensitivity.
Existing smartphone-based optical readout systems are often error-prone, limiting their daily use.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel smartphone application (Colourine) for accurate digital readout of colorimetric signals from urinalysis test strips.
To overcome limitations of ambient light noise and improve sensitivity in smartphone-based colorimetric analysis.
To validate the application's performance for detecting pH, proteins, and glucose in urine samples.

Main Methods:

Developed an Android OS smartphone application (Colourine) for colorimetric signal readout.
Implemented a pre-calibration step using a reference chart and CIE-RGB-to-HSV color space transformation to minimize environmental lighting noise.
Tested the application with commercial urinalysis test strips for pH, proteins, and glucose detection under varying ambient light conditions (100-400 lx).

Main Results:

The Colourine application demonstrated reliable output across a tested ambient light range.
Achieved limits of detection (LOD) of 0.13 pH units, 7.5 mg dL^-1 for proteins, and 22 mg dL^-1 for glucose.
The average LOD was improved approximately 2.8-fold compared to traditional visual assessment methods.

Conclusions:

The Colourine smartphone application offers a robust and accurate method for digital readout of colorimetric urinalysis test strips.
The integrated pre-calibration and color space transformation effectively mitigate ambient light interference, enhancing measurement reliability.
This technology holds potential for improving accessible and precise at-home health monitoring.