A biosensor created by Mexican scientists that measures glucose and insulin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, and stores the information online, has won a Google Research Award.
12 winners were selected for the first edition of the Latin American Google Research Awards, which are one-year awards structured as gifts to universities to support their work.
This biosensor is part of the project entitled “Interconnected Dual Bionsensor for Type II Diabetes Mellitus”, developed by Professors Catalina Stern and Mathieu Hautefeuille and their doctorate students Mariana Centeno and Jehú López at the National Autonomous University’s (UNAM) School of Sciences.
The biomarker measures glucose and insulin levels simultaneously in real time. This can diagnose type 2 in people at high risk of the condition, even if they do not have any obvious symptoms, and also monitor patients already diagnosed with type 2.
The data is then stored online, which can be viewed using a universally accessible app. Data is also available in real-time for doctors to access.
Stern said the app is a timely development, because “14 per cent of {Mexico’s} population is diabetic, besides many more who haven’t been properly diagnosed.”
The UNAM team hope to complete the project in late 2016, but an additional six-month period will be required for a commercially-ready package to be created.
