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Sensor100 May 2015 1
Sensor100The International Bio-sensor and Chemo-sensor Network
May 2015
© 2015 Captum Capital Limited
(Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)
Sensor100 May 2015 2
From the Editor 3
Are Doctors Surplus to Requirements? 4
US Navy Research Lab Unveils Cicadas 6
Handhold Summer School 8
Sensors in Food & Agriculture 9
Coming Events 10
Environmental Monitoring Show 11
Company Profiles 12
Company News 13
Technology News 16
The Last Word 20
About Sensor100 21
Cover Image:Once released (as in this depiction, from a C-130) CICADA gliders are virtually undetectable. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) invented CICADA and demonstrated it can fly to a precise waypoint and deliver a payload.
www.sensor100.com
Contents
3 Sensor100 May 2015
Underneath our unassuming image there is quite a lot happening in Sensor100 now. We are planning two conferences this year: Sen-sors in Food & Agriculture 2015 and Sensors in Medicine 2016. We have yet to choose a date and a venue for either event - to those unfamiliar with conference organising, this may sound like a straight-forward task. In reality, there are a lot of considerations to be taken into account, but be assured once the decision is made, we will let you know.
As you know, we announced last month that Sensor100 is propos-ing to launch a project to identify and promote leading research in sensors for cancer detection. We are working on this project, but it is not yet quite ready for us to engage the sensor community, who will become the cloud based judging panel to select the most viable technology approaches.
On this side of the Atlantic, the sun is beginning to appear, although gardening types think we are a month late. Spare a thought for our Indian readers (one of our top five communities in 2015) who have been suffering under an unusually severe heat wave. I’m never sure whether to believe in global warming or not.
Kind regards
From the editor...
Sensor100 May 2015 4
Are Doctors Surplus to Requirements?
ing.world Q1 2015 raises the intriguing question “Are doctors gradu-ally becoming surplus to requirements?”
‘Now that the technology sector is homing in on healthcare, smart inventions are giving consumers a full picture of their physical fitness. These innovations often set the old world and the new world on a collision path. “Technology companies are beating down the door of the healthcare sector and forcing a transformation”.’
Since technology companies discovered healthcare as a growth market, science fiction concepts like the StarTrek tricorder used by Dr. McCoy are rapidly becoming reality. Starting with kit which measured heart rate or steps taken, now handheld and wearable devices which measure heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns and other parameters are becoming commonplace. In March of this year, Apple announced the Research Kit, a data platform for medical researchers. Parkinson’s pa-tients, for example, can download an app on their iPhone, so that they can keep track of their symptoms. Qualcomm Life have their 2Net Platform , a “connectivity solution providing enterprise-grade capture and transmission of biometric data from virtually any sensor, application or portal.”
Are these rapid developments going to shake up the healthcare sec-tor, notoriously resistant to change? The resistance is not so much to technology as to process change.
Simply place the Scanadu Scout™ to the forehead.As if it is reading your mind, the Scanadu Scout™ provides valuable data about your body. All that information just by placing it on your forehead. Imagine all the other possibilities.
5 Sensor100 May 2015
Are Doctors Surplus to Requirements?
Taking your child’s temperature, pregnancy testing and for diabetics daily measuring glucose levels are all commonplace diagnostic proce-dures today, but the future offers much more. Patients will be able to log their vital signs on mobile phones, and using inexpensive disposable sensors test for multiple conditions. Accel Di-agnostics pScreen allows patients to monitor heart failure, which is claimed to “reduce doctor office visitations and unnecessary hospitalization.”
Not surprisingly, doctors and healthcare managers resist this vision of healthcare provision. It is claimed that over 60% of patients consult Google before seeing a doctor, and 50% afterwards. With patients hav-ing access to online information, and do-it-yourself diagnostic tools, is the doctor’s office visit fading into history?
Healthcare regulators have a role here too. While it is apparent that software approaches to predicting diagnoses are not only feasible, but reliable and possibly more accurate, changes in regulations to ap-prove such methods are becoming urgently needed.
It is inevitable that consumer technology will have a role to play in patients managing their healthcare in the future. It wasn’t many years ago that doctors resisted patients measur-ing their own blood pressure, now a recom-mended part of managing hypertension. What will evolve is a process by which patients and healthcare professionals work together using the technology available. This is how it should be - it is just happening faster than expected.
AcuPebble - a wearable sensor detects sounds emanating from the heart and respiratory system. AcuPebble uses advanced algorithms to sift through a range of sounds to determine only the ones that may indicate deterio-rating health or illness in patients.
Sensor100 May 2015 6
CICADA Mark III autono-mous glider
The Naval Re-search Laboratory Vehicle Research Section has suc-cessfully completed flight tests for the Autonomous Deployment Dem-
onstration (ADD) program. The final demonstration took place Sept. 1 at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Yuma, Ariz., and consisted of a series of eight balloon-drops at altitudes of up to 57,000 ft, delivering sen-sor-emplacement Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft (CICADA) vehicles within 15 feet of their intended landing locations.
The ADD concept is to enable small unmanned air vehicles (UAV) equipped with sensor payloads to be launched from aircraft (manned or unmanned), balloons, or precision guided munitions, and dispersed in selectable patterns around designated areas.
The CICADA Mark III is a unique vehicle. The airframe is simply a printed circuit board also serving as the autopilot, the first known multi-purpose airframe/avionics implementation of its kind. This novel construction method significantly reduces assembly time, minimizes wiring requirements, and enables the manufacture of low-cost and rugged micro air vehicles. The airframe shape is easily scaled to ac-commodate various payload sizes and potential acoustic, magnetic, chemical/biological and SIGINT* sensors.
US Navy Research Lab Unveils Cicadas
7 Sensor100 May 2015
“Many remote sensors are currently hand emplaced. The CICADA allows for the low-cost delivery of multiple precision-located sensors without placing the warfighter in harm’s way.”
* Signals intelligence (often abbreviated as SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications be-tween people (communications intelligence— abbreviated to CO-MINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (electronic intelligence— abbreviated to ELINT).
[Source- Wikipedia]
Read more...
Tempest UAV releasing a CICADA Mark III glider from its left wing. A CICADA Mark II prototype is carried beneath the Tempest’s right wing.
Images: Naval Research Laboratory
US Navy Research Lab Unveils Cicadas
9 Sensor100 May 2015
Sensors in Food and Agriculure
Biosensors in Agriculture17 June 2015 - 10:00 to 17:00
Birmingham UK
This event is free, but advanced registration is required: numbers are limited
Click here to find out more
Expressions of interest are invited from:
Speakers; Exhibitors; Sponsors
Poster Displays & Delegates
2-Day ConferenceDate and Venue to be announced
Register Interest Here
Sensor100 May 2015 10
Coming Events
30th Anniversary Sensors Expo and ConferenceJune 9-11 Long Beach CA USA
Bioanalytical Sensing Technologies 7th Annual AAMG ConferenceJune 16, London UK
15th Conference on Artificial Intellegence in MedicineJune 17 - 20, Pavia, IT
9th Annual Enabling Point-of-Care DiagnosticsAugust 18 - 19, Washington DC
11th Annual COMSOL European Conference October 14 - 16 Grenoble FR
List your event on Sensor100’s Events CalendarSend details to [email protected]
11 Sensor100 May 2015
This year, the City of York will become a world leader in pollution sensing technologies. The City of York Council, the University of York and the manu-facturers of the Elm portable air sensor, PerkinElmer, are working together as a partnership to deploy 100 air quality sensors around the city in 2015. The first sensor will be officially switched on in late June by Sir Mark Walport, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor.
On Thursday, 11th June, the University of York are hosting an Environmental Monitoring Show, during which the new Elm sensor network and plans to deploy new innovative sensing technologies will be discussed.
We do hope you can join us. To have a look at the programme for the day and to register your free place (including breakfast and lunch), please click the link, below.
RESERVE A TICKET HERE
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SHOW 2015University of York
Law and Management Building, Heslington East Campus
Thursday 11th June 2015 09:45 to 16:30
Sensor100 May 2015 12
Company Profiles
The above two companies were added to Sensor100’s Organisation Direc-tory this month. View the Directory here, and download the Directory Form; there is a small handling fee, waived for academic organisations.
Nicoya Lifesciences Waterloo, ON, CanadaNicoya Lifesciences is a nanotechnology com-pany developing sensor products that will change the world. We are committed to bringing high quality products with unique, innovative designs to market to solve some of the world’s most important problems. OpenSPR is the world’s first personal and affordable surface plasmon resonance system. It is compact, user-friendy and generates powerful label-free biomolecule interaction data in real time, ideal for every laboratory.
www.nicoyalife.com
Equivital Cambridge UKEquivital specialises in pro-viding mobile human physi-ological monitoring and data management. Our flagship equivital LifeMonitor is a multi-parametric monitor that has been designed specifically for use in real world envi-ronments, ensuring data integrity and accuracy at all times. Our FDA approved and CE marked equivital LifeMonitor is trusted and used by hundreds of organisations and academic institutes throughout the world. We bring the ability to measure and manage human data to the professional, clinical and academic market.
www.equivital.co.uk
13 Sensor100 May 2015
Company News
Rapid Biosensor Moves into Pneumonia Testing at PoCRapid Biosensor, Cambridge UK, is poised to attract significant licensing deals for its TB breathalyser technology having proven that its technology works extremely well at the point-of-care. The company has made considerable progress in adapting the technology to analyse liquid as well as aerosol samples, which will significantly broaden the potential applications for the solution. In particular, RBS has identified new market opportunities: sputum-based TB diagnostic testing, testing for bovine TB and testing for bacterial pneumonia. RBS envisages a pneumonia test used in conjunction with a TB test for definitive differentiation and screening/diagnosis at POC, which will be especially valuable in the third world. See RBS Business Opportunities
Anitoa Systems Demonstrates Compact qPCR using Ultra Low-Light CMOS Bio-Optical Sensor
Anitoa Systems (Palo Alto, CA), in a collaboration with Zhejiang University of China, has demonstrated a handheld, real-time quantitative-polymerase-chain-reaction system (qPCR) using Anitoa’s ultra-low-light CMOS biosensor. The company’s handheld qPCR can detect several types of pathogen DNA and RNA, including hepatitis B/C and E. coli. It has achieved detection limit of four copies per sample and over nine orders of magnitude in dynamic range. The company is developing a low-cost, portable qPCR-based molecular diagnostics platform as a globally affordable tool to help fight infectious diseases worldwide. Read more...
Sensor100 May 2015 14
Company News
Fertility tracker raises $3.2M to add pregnancy appBoston-based women’s health app developer Ovuline has raised $3.2 million; this brings the company’s total funding to at least $5.7 million.Ovuline offers two apps, Ovia Pregnancy and Ovia Fertility, which help women track their fertility and pregnancy through iOS and Android apps. Reported by MobileHealthNews May 26
10 Current Crowdfunding Digital Health ProjectsRunRite - tracks data from leg sensorsRock100 Watch - social running appAutonomous - standing deskKokoon - EEG headphonesTZOA - wearable environment trackerMoodmetric - mood ringResistrack - sensors for exercise devicesThe Wellbe - heart rate trackingFindaFitness - find a gymNextToMe - wearable environmental monitor
Read more in MobileHealthNews May 26
Siemens Healthcare Launches Xprecia Stride™ Coagulation Analyzer
Primary care, urgent care, and hospitals demand fast, reliable PT/INR testing for oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT). That’s why Siemens is introducing the Xprecia Stride™ Coagulation Analyzer, a truly hand-held device that tests PT/INR with lab accuracy.PT = Prothrombin TimeINR = International Normalised RatioRead More...
15 Sensor100 May 2015
Company News
Counterfeit Detection in Olive OilOlive oil produc-tion is a multi-billion dollar industry, with food-grade varie-ties subject to regulation regard-ing their origin and quality. Ocean Optics uses the Spark spectral sensor to detect potentially damaging adulterants and dilutions in olive oil samples.Read the Application Note
Complimentary access to Comsol News 2015
Read about new modelling and simulation projects in the 2015 edition of COMSOL News. Browse through the digital magazine to hear about the latest from engineers at organisations like Nestlé, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Daimler, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Free webinar: Simulation of Microfluidic Devices Using COMSOLFor more information and to register, visit: http://comsol.com/c/279x
Sensor100 May 2015 16
Technology News
The Lab-2-Go Project - PoC Test for Myocardial Infarction
The Lab2Go project, co-funded by the European Commission, is a study to determine the value of a point-of-care testing system for measur-ing cardiac Troponin-I (cTnI) at the patients’ bedside as an aid in the diagnosis of patients with the indications of a Myocardial Infarction (MI). A blood sample can be taken and tested by the doctor, nurse or paramedic to provide cTnI measurement during clinical assessment, rather than having to wait for laboratory results.The Point-of-Care system that will be demonstrated is referred to as the Minicare system - an innovative biophotonics based technology that employs a surface sensitive optical detection technique to deter-mine a biomarker concentration in blood. The system is designed to enable various biomarkers to be measured in whole blood within 10 minutes at lab-quality precision. The project partners include: Royal Philips, Scienion AG, Conworx Technology GmbH, Microsystems (UK) Ltd and six European hospitals. Read more...
World First for Artificial Pancreas TeamThe first natural birth to a mother with diabetes who has been fitted with an artificial pancreas took place in April. The device has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge. Previously, three mothers have given birth using the device by Caesarean section.Read more...
17 Sensor100 May 2015
Ovarian Cancer Blood Test Boost
A 14 year trial, led by University College, London and co-ordinated by Professor Usha Menon (UCL Women’s Cancer) has found that a new screening test can detect twice as many ovarian cancers as conventional methods.
Ovarian tumours produce high levels of a chemi-cal called CA125, which is already used as a test if patients have symp-toms. The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening per-formed annual blood tests on post-menopausal women across 13 NHS Trusts They tracked changes in the levels of CA125 over time and if levels became elevated then the women were sent for further tests including an ultrasound scan. The trial results, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed 86% of cancers were picked up.
Dr James Brenton, an ovarian cancer specialist with Cancer Research UK, said: “A blood test to find women at risk of ovarian cancer is an ex-citing prospect, but this work still needs to be tested in women to see if it can save lives.” Reported by BBC News May 5
Soft Sensors Map Skin DynamicsAn international research team led by John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has built electronic, flexible patches that can measure the mechanical properties of skin and other biological tis-sue. The researchers mapped the skin elasticity of dozens of patients in the clinic, building up quantitative data on healthy and damaged tissue. The information could help doctors better assess conditions such as dermatitis and skin cancer. The team believes that similar sensors could be implanted inside the body to monitor blood vessels and other soft tissue for damage. C&EN May 25
Technology News
Sensor100 May 2015 18
Technology News
A chip placed under the skin for more precise medi-cine It’s only a centimetre long, it’s placed under your skin, it’s powered by a patch on the surface of your skin and it com-municates with your mobile phone. The new biosensor chip developed at EPFL, Switzerland is capable of simultane-ously monitoring the concentration of a number of molecules, such as glucose and cholesterol, and certain drugs. “This is the world’s first chip capable of measuring not just pH and temperature, but also metabolism-related molecules like glucose, lactate and cholesterol, as well as drugs,” said Dr Sandro Carrara of EPFL. A group of electrochemical sensors works with or without enzymes, which means the device can react to a wide range of compounds, and it can do so for several days or even weeks.Read more...
Novel Paper Biosensors Could Detect Food ContaminantsA method to print paper biosensors that could be used in the food safety field has been developed at McMaster University.Reported by FoodQualityNews.com May 18
The Impossible Water SensorProf. Dermot Diamond, Dublin City Univer-sity, gives his views on what it will take to implement the EU Water Framework Direc-tive.Reported in Edication in Chemistry
© Alain Herzog / EPFL 2015
19 Sensor100 May 2015
Technology News
Sydney Trains Tests New Vapour-sensing System to Catch Graffiti Vandals
Australia’s Sydney Trains is testing a new graffiti-fighting weapon, a va-pour-sensing system that automatically detects spray paint or marker pens on carriage sur-faces.
The tool, aptly named Mousetrap, uses elec-tronic chemical sensors
to detect vapors of permanent markers and spray paint in real time. As soon as Mousetrap sniffs out a tagging in progress, it alerts tran-sit staff monitoring CCTV feeds of Sydney rail stations. Then transit police can arrest the vandals.
Since the current trial began in mid-2014, the system has already nabbed more than 30 offenders. And with a price tag of about $500,000—compared to the $34 million Sydney spent cleaning up graffiti last year—Mousetrap seems like a bargain.
Reported by CityLab
Sensor100 May 2015 20
The Last Word
Vitastiq Measures Vitamins and Minerals
Zagreb Croatia based company Vitastiq is about to launch a new product which non-invasively measures the levels of 30 essential min-erals and vitamins in the body.
The technology is based on Electro-acupuncture (EAV) said to be proven by a team of medical doctors who established that the con-ductivity of the skin at acupuncture points is lower; measuring a series of points on the skin is claimed to be related to mineral and vitamin levels.
The product sells for $99, including the measuring probe and a free mobile phone app.
If you think the technology stretches your belief in science, the com-pany has raised $148,000 on Indiegogo.
Read more at http://www.vitastiq.com/
21 Sensor100 May 2015
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