A point-of-care diagnostic system, comprising: a cartridge having: a blood sample chamber that is structured to receive a patient blood sample, the patient blood sample containing one or more hemoglobin types, and to store the patient blood sample within the blood sample chamber; an electrophoresis strip structured to receive at least a portion of the patient blood sample from the blood sample chamber and to receive a selectively applied electric current; a reader having: a cartridge receptacle shaped to receive the cartridge and configured to initiate an electrophoresis diagnostic process in response to receiving the cartridge; an electrophoresis module structured to cause the selectively applied electric current to be applied to the electrophoresis strip of the cartridge after the electrophoresis strip has received at least a portion of the patient blood sample; an electrophoresis band detection module structured to detect one or more bands (312, 314, 316, 318) of at least a portion of the patient blood sample on the electrophoresis strip caused by the selectively applied electric current and to generate band detection data based on the one or more bands of the at least a portion of the patient blood sample; and processing circuitry characterized in that the processing circuitry is configured to vary the voltage from a higher first value to a lower second value; receive the band detection data; analyze the band detection data to determine one or more band characteristics for each of the one or more bands, each of the one or more bands corresponding to one of the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; identify the one more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample based on the one or more band detection characteristics of each of the one or more bands; generate diagnostic results based at least in part on the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; and transmit the diagnostic results to an output. a cartridge having: a blood sample chamber that is structured to receive a patient blood sample, the patient blood sample containing one or more hemoglobin types, and to store the patient blood sample within the blood sample chamber; an electrophoresis strip structured to receive at least a portion of the patient blood sample from the blood sample chamber and to receive a selectively applied electric current; a blood sample chamber that is structured to receive a patient blood sample, the patient blood sample containing one or more hemoglobin types, and to store the patient blood sample within the blood sample chamber; an electrophoresis strip structured to receive at least a portion of the patient blood sample from the blood sample chamber and to receive a selectively applied electric current; a reader having: a cartridge receptacle shaped to receive the cartridge and configured to initiate an electrophoresis diagnostic process in response to receiving the cartridge; an electrophoresis module structured to cause the selectively applied electric current to be applied to the electrophoresis strip of the cartridge after the electrophoresis strip has received at least a portion of the patient blood sample; an electrophoresis band detection module structured to detect one or more bands (312, 314, 316, 318) of at least a portion of the patient blood sample on the electrophoresis strip caused by the selectively applied electric current and to generate band detection data based on the one or more bands of the at least a portion of the patient blood sample; and a cartridge receptacle shaped to receive the cartridge and configured to initiate an electrophoresis diagnostic process in response to receiving the cartridge; an electrophoresis module structured to cause the selectively applied electric current to be applied to the electrophoresis strip of the cartridge after the electrophoresis strip has received at least a portion of the patient blood sample; an electrophoresis band detection module structured to detect one or more bands (312, 314, 316, 318) of at least a portion of the patient blood sample on the electrophoresis strip caused by the selectively applied electric current and to generate band detection data based on the one or more bands of the at least a portion of the patient blood sample; and processing circuitry characterized in that the processing circuitry is configured to vary the voltage from a higher first value to a lower second value; receive the band detection data; analyze the band detection data to determine one or more band characteristics for each of the one or more bands, each of the one or more bands corresponding to one of the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; identify the one more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample based on the one or more band detection characteristics of each of the one or more bands; generate diagnostic results based at least in part on the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; and transmit the diagnostic results to an output. receive the band detection data; analyze the band detection data to determine one or more band characteristics for each of the one or more bands, each of the one or more bands corresponding to one of the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; identify the one more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample based on the one or more band detection characteristics of each of the one or more bands; generate diagnostic results based at least in part on the one or more hemoglobin types of the patient blood sample; and transmit the diagnostic results to an output.