Sensor that runs hundreds of lab tests from single drop of blood wins Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE

The Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHEALTH) portable in vitro diagnostic device that can run hundreds of clinical lab tests on a single drop of blood has won the $525,000 Grand Prize in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE. Developed by DMI (DNA Medicine Institute; Cambridge, MA), the system can determine within minutes if the user has a cold, flu, or more serious ailment, such as pneumonia or even Ebola, with gold standard accuracy, according to contest organizers. DMI, which was one of 11 finalists in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, is also a finalist for the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. 

"We are truly honored to be recognized as the Grand Prize winner in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE," said DMI founder and CEO Eugene Y. Chan, MD. "To be selected from such an impressive group of worthy competitors is extremely humbling. Our hope is that the rHEALTH system, once commercialized, will enable consumers to monitor their own health while on-the-go in a more efficient manner and alert them of more serious medical concerns almost immediately."

In addition to the Grand Prize, five Distinguished Award Prizes, each valued at $120,000, were presented to Biovotion (Zurich, Switzerland), Golden Gopher Magnetic Biosensing (Minneapolis, MN), Eigen Lifescience (Stanford, CA), GUES (London, UK), and Endotronix Wireless Health Monitoring (Woodridge, IL).

The winners were announced at the Exponential Medicine Conference in San Diego on Nov. 10.

The goal of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE is to advance sensor technology in a way that will enable faster diagnoses and easier, more sophisticated personal health monitoring.

All eyes are now on DMI to see if it can go on to capture the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. The global competition is designed to foster development of a consumer-focused, mobile device capable of diagnosing and interpreting a set of 15 medical conditions and capturing five vital health metrics, much like the medical Tricorder of Star Trek fame. As part of this, they will compete in both diagnostic experience evaluations and consumer testing, slated for mid 2015. The final judging and awards ceremony will take place in early 2016.