A team effort developed a personal portable and wearable air pollution sensor under the “My Air, My Health Challenge” and received $100,000 for their Conscious Clothing system at the Health Datapalooza event on June 4th. The grand prize was awarded by NIH, HHS Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, and EPA.
The winning team included David Kuller of AUX, Gabrielle Savage Dockterman of Angel Devil Productions, and Dot Kelly of Shearwater Design. The system is a wearable breathing analysis tool that calculates the amount of particulate matter that is inhaled. The system uses groove strips, stretchy, conductive strips of knotted silver material wrapped around the rib cage to measure breath volume and then collects and transmits data in real-time via Bluetooth to any Bluetooth-capable device.
“The finalists for this challenge demonstrated that health information technology can range from personal, wearable sensors to integrated hospital EHR systems,” said Farzad Mostashari, MD, ONC. “The benefits of health IT, whether being worn by a single person or managed throughout a large hospital, will have similar results in helping to keep people healthy.”
“With people wearing these new data-collecting devices, researchers will be able to see and understand the relationships between varying levels of air pollutants and individual health responses in real-time according to Linda Birnbaum, PhD, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of NIH.
“The integration of these technologies represents a growing area of interest for environmental and health scientists, said Glenn Paulson PhD, EPA science advisor. “We’re at the edge of a technology wave where anyone can use these sensors.”
Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPvyIXdkc48g to view the video.