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Cue health tracker brings molecular-level testing to iOS

понедельник, 19. мая 2014 - 19:36

With pedometers, smartwatches and other passive connected health-related products carving out a niche in the iOS device accessories market, tech startup Cue is looking to take the "quantified self" much further with an ambitious project that gathers, tracks and interpolates biological samples on the molecular level.

The culmination of four years of research and development, Cue's eponymous device is a small, modular, noninvasive hardware solution that unlocks key health information previously available only from specialized diagnostics laboratories. Cue packs in high-tech biosensors and an advanced microfluidic system that converts biological samples into digital data. After processing in the cloud, users can track metrics on their iPhone to make informed lifestyle decisions regarding eating, sleeping and exercising, among other activities.

Company cofounder and CEO Ayub Khattak said the idea for Cue has roots in the 2009 swine flu pandemic. "We were seeing how the whole [health industry] system was really inefficient in getting people the information they wanted at that time, which was 'do I have swine flu or not,'" Khattak said. "If people could just have a simple hardware product in their homes that allowed them to find out this information easily, then everything would change about how we reacted to that situation."

From there, Khattak looked at the then-burgeoning field of smartphone-connected health devices fueled by the popularity of Apple's iPhone and flexible iOS software platform. Paying attention to the metrics most consumers were interested in tracking, Cue developed its suite of tests and accompanying tracking app.

When it launches in early 2015, Cue will have separate disposable cartridges that test for five distinct molecular indicators relating to inflammation, Vitamin D, fertility, influenza and testosterone. Each metric has a different marker that, when measured and tracked, can be used to discover trends, monitor progress and help users gain realtime insight on their bodies.

According to Cue cofounder and Chief Product Officer Clint Sever, much of the three-year R&D period was spent fusing the two core technologies into an appealing consumer device. Aside from the in-house biosensors, the bespoke microfluidic system allows Cue to handle small amounts of human sample in a way that is both powerful and cost effective.

"Taking these fundamental laboratory principles and technologies and packing them into a system anyone can use was really the key challenge in developing the product," Sever said.

On the hardware side, Cue is built on a modular platform with a small rectangular device serving as a type of base station that accepts single-use cartridges for various molecular testing. Weighing in at less than a pound, Cue is portable and can be taken to the gym or office for on-the-go readings.

Each cartridge tests for a different indicator by sampling saliva, blood or fluid from a nasal swab with an included sample wand. The base station automatically determines when a sample cartridge and sample wand are present, processes the biological sample and sends the resulting digitized data to an iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0. Charging is accomplished via the Qi wireless standard.

The Cue app then aggregates test data into a timeline called Life Feed — or broken off into dedicated sections for each indicator — for easy viewing or to share with friends and family members. In addition, the app can also use collected data to pull down food and exercise recommendations from the cloud. For example, if a user's Vitamin D levels are low, Cue may suggest a smoothie or some fruit and can schedule the task in a user's calendar.

Mikey Campbell

Источник: 
appleinsider.com
Тэги: 
Cue
health information
high-tech biosensors