Latest XPRIZE Winner Unleashes the Health Data in Your Blood

Today the XPRIZE Foundation announced the winner of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, the global competition aimed at accelerating the availability of hardware sensors and software sensing technology as a means to smarter digital health solutions. The winning device, called the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHEALTH) system, can potentially run hundreds or even thousands of lab tests using a single drop of blood, and those tests, in turn, can be used to diagnose a range of diseases.

Along with a number of distinguished awards, the $525,000 grand prize was presented to Eugene Chan, founder and CEO of the device's maker, DNA Medicine Institute (DMI), at Singularity University's Exponential Medicine conference.

How does the device work? The rHEALTH system reacts a sample of blood--about 1,500 times less than is usually required--with a series of nanostrips. These strips are bit like pH test strips, only they're on the scale of blood cells. The system reacts the blood sample with tens of thousands of nanostrips, each running a different test then shines a laser on them in rapid succession.

The whole process yields results in around two minutes and currently runs about 22 lab tests, ranging from vitamin D to HIV.

You can learn more about the device at an in-depth article over on Wired.

Also, CNBC interviewed Peter Diamandis and Eugene Chan earlier today just before the on-stage presentation.

[Image Credit: DMI/YouTube]