Researchers at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University broke a record for the longest distance traveled by a medical drone carrying blood samples, according to a HealthDay report.
The experiment, led by study author Timothy Amukele, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, aimed to study if human blood samples could be transported long distances via a medical drone.
At the experiment's conclusion, researchers successfully transported 84 biological samples 160.22 miles across the Arizona desert during a roughly three-hour flight.
"Long drone flights of biological samples are feasible but require stringent environmental controls to ensure consistent results," researchers concluded. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology Sept. 5.