$525,000 Grand Prize in the first competition of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE for their Gene-RADAR sensing technology for personalized diagnostic testing.
The Gene-RADAR platform analyzes a drop of blood, saliva or other body fluid placed on a nanochip and inserted into a mobile device, which then detects the presence or absence of a disease's pathogen in less than an hour, with the same accuracy available only in a diagnostic lab. The technology was developed to be easy-to-use and does not require overhead infrastructure, such as electricity or running water, which can lead to widespread adoption by developing countries. Nanobiosym has already demonstrated custom applications for E. coli and HIV/AIDS with potential applications across the entire spectrum of health care including diagnosis, monitoring, drug development, companion diagnostics, and personalized nano-medicine.
Nanobiosym was selected from a pool of 26 competing teams from seven countries. The 12 finalist teams demonstrated the sensing capabilities of their technologies to a judging panel comprised of thought leaders and industry experts who have cross-functional and relevant expertise in sensing and mobile health technologies. A percentage of the final score was crowdsourced via an attendee voting mechanism at the Health 2.0 Fall Conference in Silicon Valley, California.
"Congratulations to Nanobiosym and all of the teams who competed in the first competition of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE," said Henry Tirri, chief technology officer and executive vice president, Nokia. "The technologies demonstrated by the teams show the potential for sensors to bring greater efficiency, reliability and affordability to the health care system. We are taking a significant step towards creating an ecosystem of innovative technologies that will radically change the way people understand their state of health."
A top ranking alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Goel obtained her doctorate from the Physics Department at Harvard University, with the mentorship of Nobel laureate Dudley R. Herschbach, with a thesis entitled Single Molecule Dynamics of Motor Enzymes Along DNA. She also holds an MD from the Harvard–MIT Joint Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). In 2005, Anita was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. (source of bio details: Wikipedia)
See picture story on Nanobiosym and Gene Radar in our Image of the Day section.