Ebola Pregnancy Test Created by 17-year-old -- How Does it Work?

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Testing for Ebola virus is both an expensive and complicated process, but think about this astounding thing: a Greenwich High School junior was able to create a new, inexpensive, simple and fast method to accurately detect the virus in a person's body.

The genius inventor, Olivia Hallisey, is a 17-year-old Connecticut native who won the grand prize at the 2015 Google Science Fair, reported the Business Insider. She won the prize with her low-cost, portable Ebola “pregnancy” test called the “Ebola Assay Card.”

Even “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert was surprised by this young girl, who appeared on the show to talk about how it works.

“Current tests are expensive, complicated and, most importantly, they require refrigeration, and this test uses a silk fibroin solution, which is just the proteins from silk cocoons,” Hallisey told Colbert

“Don’t patronize me. I know what a silk fibroin is,” Colbert quickly replied, “Please… I’m much older than 17.”

Hallisey's Ebola Assay Card is made from photo paper, reported Fox News. When tested, it can detect the antigens for the Ebola virus. Similar to how a pregnancy test works to indicate if a woman is pregnant, the Ebola Assay Card will show a yellow marking if a person is positive with the virus.

This nifty invention will save a lot of time as well as hundreds to thousands of money. Hive reported that the current tools required to test for Ebola require conditions that are not present in the regions that are mostly affected by the virus, giving it a high price of about $1,000 per patient. Diagnosis also takes a longer time, up to 12 hours.

Hallisey's simple technique does not require refrigeration, which makes it suitable for use in room temperature. Additionally, it costs way less at $25 per patient and takes only as little as 30 minutes per diagnosis.

This new invention was made through hours invested in it. Hallisey credits the success of her project to those who helped her, including her mentors and the companies that helped her.

“There was definitely a lot of time put into it and a lot of help from a lot of people. I had two mentors at Tufts University. I had my science research teacher. I had to contact different companies to get the chemicals I needed, so it was a lot of work but, I mean, I think it was worth it,” she said.

Hallisey won a $50,000 scholarship from Google and a lot of admiration from people including Colbert.

"I don't know whether to be inspired or intimidated by you right now," Colbert said.