BME100 s2018:Group2 W1030 L1

BME 100 Spring 2018	Home People Lab Write-Up 1 | Lab Write-Up 2 | Lab Write-Up 3 Lab Write-Up 4 | Lab Write-Up 5 | Lab Write-Up 6 Course Logistics For Instructors Photos Wiki Editing Help
OUR TEAM Name: Ian Conley Name: Sarah Davis Name: Aisha Alsuwaidi Lab 1 1. Describe the healthcare issue you will develop a solution for. Include a description of the pathology your device or technology that will treat/prevent/diagnose. Many people in the United States who suffer from diabetes or hypoglycemia need to measure their glucose levels anywhere from two to eight times a day(1). Many of these Americans also have slight to severe dehydration problems. Our group is working to tackle both of these. As well as, help those with other less common diseases that would need to test their dehydration levels and glucose, or blood sugar, levels. Blood sugar testing is a very large business but our group aims to bring the blood glucose meters to the phone. Most people in America carry cell phones with them, and an ever-increasing number carry smartphones with external ports. These ports keep changing, most of all the Apple charging port, so our group will connect our device via Bluetooth. For glucose levels, our device would test the blood put on a sensor, similar to the ones used in almost every glucose meter today, and the glucose levels would be interpreted by the main sensor, and the information would travel via Bluetooth to the phone app, which would display the results. For dehydration, our device would test the biomarkers in blood, namely salt concentrations. This would be done by measuring how electrolytic the blood sample is by measuring the current through the blood from two electrodes on the strip. A high salt concentration reading corresponds to not only dehydration and high sodium levels(2). This reading would show a separate reading in the app, corresponding to dehydration and salt levels. Data can then be sent to healthcare providers and will be stored so that users can track levels not only throughout the day but see results from months back. In an age where glucose strips are decreasing in price and the numbers of people who use them are rising, a direct interface with the phone is one of the most important technological benefits our company offers. (1) “Blood Sugar Testing: Why, When and How.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 26 Jan. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/blood-sugar/art-20046628v. (2) “Osmolality Blood Test - Penn State Hershey Medical Center.” Penn State Hershey Health Information Library, 15 July 2017, pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=117&pid=1&gid=003463. 2. Customer Validation: Create a list of 20 specific customers that you would contact to validate your device/technology (physicians, individuals, organizations etc). 1. Patients with Diabetes Insipidus 2. Patients with obesity 3. Construction workers 4. Patients with kidney failure 5. Athletes, hikers, and climbers 6. Patients with Type 1 diabetes 7. Patients with Type 2 diabetes 8. Endocrinologist 9. Sports medicine doctors 10. Mayo Clinic 11. Massachusetts general hospital 12. Cleveland Clinic 13. John Hopkins hospital 14. The Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism and Penn Diabetes Research Center 15. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH) 16. Joslin Diabetes Center 17. Diabetes Research Institute 18. Diabetes Research center 19. Medicare Health Insurance 20. Medicaid Health Insurance 21. TRICARE Health Insurance 3. Competitors: List current solutions for this health care issue. Competitor Advantages Disadvantages Why is ours more marketable? Contour Next One glucose meter Similar to what we are looking to do using Bluetooth to connect the meter to the phone Does not measure hydration, which is important to everyday health Our device would not have a screen on the actual test, making it smaller and cheaper. Ours will also measure hydration levels OneTouch Ultra 2 Very popular, basic glucose meter with backlit display, provides results of past measurements on the device Does not connect to phone, complicated use with only three buttons on the front Again, ours connects to your phone, and measures dehydration along with glucose levels. The app will be simple and intuitive, unlike the display on the Ultra 2 and will be more convenient for the consumers. 2in1 Smart Glucometer Connects to the audio port, easy app Does not have Bluetooth connect This one does a very good job of measuring glucose in a compact way. Ours would follow its small design without a digital display but ours would connect to the phone app, as well as measure dehydration. 4. IP Position: Perform a patent search and describe existing patents related to your device/technology. US20080119705A1-A patent from 5/22/2008 by Medtronic Minimed Inc. for “Systems and Methods for Diabetes Management Using Consumer Electronic Devices.” This patent is related to our product because of the connection via Bluetooth. The patent, however, is mainly focused on continuous blood sampling, where the data is directly sent to the patient's smartphone to an app where it is stored. US20020019707A1-A patent by Boston Medical Technologies from 2/14/2002 describing a glucose measuring system. This type of system includes a digital display, so we could follow this patent and apply for our own without the incorporation of that display. US6863800B2-A patent from 3/8/2005 by Abbott Laboratories describing a strip sensor with multiple electrodes to measure concentrations of analytes by creating a voltage difference across the sample. This is the way we are going to measure the concentration of salt in the blood sample. 5. Using the information you have compiled, score the portions of the fundability worksheet listed below. Customer Validation-1-Must use a value of one for this category. Competitors-2-We chose to use a value of two because even though there are a lot of competitors, lots of new technologies are being added to glucose meters. Not only are companies moving towards more phone-based readings, they are making meters smaller and more accurate all the time. IP Position-1-No patent applications have been filed yet, but basic patents from other companies exist.