A&M team gets $20M grant to craft health sensor implants,
Implants could monitor patients with heart conditions or diabetes.
Texas A&M University researchers will lead a $20 million federally funded program to develop under-the-skin sensors and handheld devices for tracking health conditions, especially for people who, for geographical or income reasons, lack ready access to medical care.
The five-year National Science Foundation grant, announced Tuesday, is of a special type that is likely to be renewed for an additional five years and $15 million, bringing the total to $35 million, said Gerard Coté, a biomedical engineering professor at A&M and the program’s principal investigator. Researchers at Rice University, the University of California at Los Angeles and Florida International University will participate as co-investigators and subcontractors of sorts to A&M.
One goal of the project is to develop an implantable sensor the size of a grain of rice that could monitor patients with heart conditions or diabetes, Coté said.
Such health problems are common but are especially pervasive in rural areas and among minority » populations in urban areas.
“For diabetics, it would get rid of finger-pricking devices,” Coté said. A special watch-like device would monitor glucose levels and heart biomarkers, then transfer the information to a cellphone, which, in turn, would send it over the internet to a health care provider, thus cutting down on trips to a clinic or other medical site for testing, he said.
Designation of the project as a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, only the fourth such award in Texas history, is a feather in the university’s cap, said A&M President Michael K. Young and A&M System Chancellor John Sharp.
“Selection for the award by the National Science Foundation is a strong affirmation of our commitment to purpose-driven research