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Exothermic and/or endothermic chemical reactions in combination with phase change materials can produce output temperature(s) within strict tolerances without requiring expensive and complicated external equipment to generate and maintain an output temperature. Similarly, an exothermic phase change

Exothermic and/or endothermic chemical reactions in combination with phase change materials can produce output temperature(s) within strict tolerances without requiring expensive and complicated external equipment to generate and maintain an output temperature. Similarly, an exothermic phase change material, which generates heat as a consequence of crystallizing a supercooled liquid, can generate heat at a constant temperature, without requiring expensive and complicated external equipment, as a consequence of the liquid form of the exothermic phase change material being in equilibrium with the solid form of the exothermic phase change material. Numerous biological and chemical processes and/or diagnostic devices require a constant temperature or temperatures for set periods of time. An example completely non-instrumented diagnostic platform based on nucleic acid amplification is described, which is particularly suited for use in developing countries that may not have access to expensive and complicated external equipment.

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1. An assay platform, comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda phase change material disposed bet

1. An assay platform, comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda phase change material disposed between the reaction vessel and the exothermic chemical reagent mixture,wherein the amount of phase change material is configured to provide a controlled, substantially constant temperature to the reaction vessel for the biochemical reaction by being at least partially converted from its solid form to its liquid form when heated by an exothermic chemical reaction generated by the exothermic chemical reagent mixture, andwherein said biochemical reaction is a nucleic acid amplification reaction. 2. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said exothermic chemical reagent mixture comprises iron powder and carbon powder. 3. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said exothermic chemical reagent mixture comprises a reduction of copper with magnesium. 4. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said exothermic chemical reagent mixture comprises calcium oxide hydration. 5. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said phase change material comprises a paraffin. 6. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said phase change material is selected from the group consisting of a metal, an inorganic compound, an inorganic eutectic and an organic compound. 7. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid amplification reaction is an isothermal nucleic acid amplification. 8. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said reaction vessel comprises a biological organism requiring incubation at elevated, constant temperature. 9. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said heating element has a well-defined working temperature. 10. The assay platform of claim 9, wherein said well-defined working temperature is between about 53 to about 70 degrees C. 11. The assay platform of claim 9, wherein said well-defined working temperature is between about 37 to about 55 degrees C. 12. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said heating element has a well-defined working duration, after which the temperature of the heating element drops back to ambient levels. 13. The assay platform of claim 12, wherein said well-defined working duration is approximately one hour. 14. The assay platform of claim 1, further comprising a second heating element, wherein said second heating element has a different working temperature or duration, resulting in an assay platform having multiple heating plateaus. 15. The assay platform of claim 14, wherein said platform generates two heating plateaus. 16. The assay platform of claim 15, wherein said platform generates a first heating plateau comprising a working temperature between about 92 to about 96 degrees C. for approximately 5 minutes, followed by a second heating plateau comprising a working temperature between about 53 to about 70 degrees C. for approximately 80 minutes. 17. The assay platform of claim 15, further comprising a chemical cooling element. 18. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein the heating element is configured to maintain a constant temperature without using an electrical power source. 19. The assay platform of claim 1, wherein said exothermic chemical reagent mixture comprises magnesium. 20. An assay platform, comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda phase change material disposed between the reaction vessel and the exothermic chemical reagent mixture,wherein the amount of phase change material is configured to provide a controlled, substantially constant temperature to the reaction vessel for the biochemical reaction by being at least partially converted from its solid form to its liquid form when heated by an exothermic chemical reaction generated by the exothermic chemical reagent mixture, andwherein said biochemical reaction is a reverse-transcription reaction. 21. An assay platform comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture;a phase change material disposed between the reaction vessel and the exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda density-driven closed-loop fluid circulation channel configured to achieve heat cycling in a circulation fluid as a function of the circulation fluid being heated as it passes through the heating element, and cooled when it is outside the heating element,wherein the amount of phase change material is configured to provide a controlled, substantially constant temperature to the reaction vessel for the biochemical reaction by being at least partially converted from its solid form its liquid form when heated by an exothermic chemical reaction generated by the exothermic chemical reagent mixture. 22. The assay platform of claim 21, wherein said heating element acts as a heat source and an area outside of said heating element acts as a heat sink; wherein said heat source is at a lower elevation than said heat sink; and wherein said closed-loop fluid circulation channel has a minimally tortuous fluid path. 23. An assay platform, comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture;a phase change material disposed between the reaction vessel and the exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda wicking-driven linear channel configured to achieve heat cycling in a circulation fluid as a function of the circulation fluid being heated as it passes repeatedly over the heating element and being cooled when it is outside the heating element,wherein the amount of phase change material is configured to provide a controlled, substantially constant temperature to the reaction vessel for the biochemical reaction by being at least partially converted from its solid form to its liquid form when heated by an exothermic chemical reaction generated by the exothermic chemical reagent mixture. 24. An assay platform, comprising: a reaction vessel for conducting a biochemical reaction under controlled temperature conditions;a heating element thermally coupled to the reaction vessel, the heating element comprising:an exothermic chemical reagent mixture;a phase change material disposed between the reaction vessel and the exothermic chemical reagent mixture; anda spring-loaded, syringe-like pump driven linear channel configured to achieve heat cycling in a circulation fluid as a function of the circulation fluid being heated as it passes repeatedly over the heating element and being cooled when it is outside the heating element,wherein the amount of phase change material is configured to provide a controlled, substantially constant temperature to the reaction vessel for the biochemical reaction by being at least partially converted from its solid form to its liquid form when heated by an exothermic chemical reaction generated the exothermic chemical reagent mixture.