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Making invisible micronutrient deficiency visible.
Helio
bridging the micronutrient data gap through a low-cost biosensor for population assessment of vitamin B12
bridging the micronutrient data gap through a low-cost biosensor for population assessment of vitamin B12
16 million suffer from severe B12 deficiency in Nigeria, an invisible problem. Nonprofits struggle to find places most in need of intervention programs + how they should maximize their efficiencies. Thus, 80% of them are not receiving treatment.
Population data should be collected every 5 years so NGOs can find where to establish intervention programs. However, in Nigeria this data is only being collected every 20 years due to high costs ($10M) and the lengthy process (+5 years) to collect data.
A low-cost biosensor that can assess vitamin B12 for under $5 per assay at the point of care. In cutting the need to ship samples overseas to first-world labs, and the million dollar cold-supply chains, and use of expensive lab equipment, this will decrease costs by 40x and time by several years
“Ideally, we want the cost of data to be under $5 per assay. At the moment for B12 it’s over $20 and can go up to $60 USD per test in some countries. ” - Dr. Maria Jefferds, CDC
“To me this biosensor would be a dream!” Lisa Rogers, WHO
Hand-held sensor costing under $5 per assay
Generating results on the site anytime anywhere
Providing quantitative readouts of B12 status with minimal worker training required
Integrating gold-standard glucose sensing and widely available off-the-shelf glucometer technology.