学生发明家发明出乳腺癌筛查设备并获奖

由 杰克 M. 杰曼诺夫 19， 2020 9：40 上午 PT

https://www.technewsworld.com/story/86927.html

一名23岁的生物医学工程系学生，在西班牙塔拉戈纳和加利福尼亚州欧文市两地双居，是周四宣布的2020年詹姆斯·戴森奖的两位第一名得主之一。她的发明旨在帮助世界各地的妇女承担乳腺癌早期检测的费用。

朱迪特·吉雷·贝内特（JuditGré Benet）获得了35，000美元的现金奖金，用于开发"蓝盒"，这是一种在家可重复使用的乳腺癌筛查设备。她母亲对乳腺癌的诊断激励她找到一种负担得起的和有效的筛查机制。

Benet在巴塞罗那的西班牙大学与一只狗在一起的经历激发了她寻找检测癌症的生物密码的兴趣。狗可以闻到病人的呼吸，并检测病人是否患有肺癌。

"这激起了我的兴趣，去研究狗的生物学是如何做到这一点的，"贝内特告诉科技新闻世界。

这段经历使她在加州大学欧文分校学习生物医学。在那里，她遇到了一位教授，并和一位同事一起工作，这位同事后来成为了她蓝盒研发的导师。

"我相信这个设备是全世界需要的东西。直到世界告诉我有其他方法，我才会放弃。"她说。

横幅年

今年詹姆斯戴森奖的纪录被打破，该奖项现已资助了来自世界各地的年轻工程师和科学家的250项有前途的发明。尽管在2020年该流行病带来了考验，但该奖项的参赛人数却最多。据詹姆斯·戴森奖官员称，这种品质非常出色，突出了年轻发明家的聪明才智。

Judit Giré Benet 获得了 35，000 美元的现金奖金，用于开发"蓝色盒子"，这是一种在家可重复使用的乳腺癌筛查设备。

詹姆斯戴森，英国发明家，工业设计师，土地所有者和企业家，创立了戴森有限公司。他最出名的双旋风无袋真空吸尘器的发明者，它的工作原理是气旋分离。

"不幸的是，我亲眼目睹了癌症的悲惨影响，作为科学家和工程师，我们应该尽最大努力去克服这种可怕的疾病。Judit 正在以令人印象深刻的方式将硬件、软件和 AI 结合使用，以令人印象深刻的方式创建一种设计良好的产品，使癌症筛查成为日常生活的一部分，"戴森在一份事先准备好的声明中说道。

他补充说，蓝盒在云中收集和存储的数据将提供洞察，使治疗更精确，并扩大全球癌症知识。

戴森说："在高度复杂的医疗审批系统中，她应该得到所有支持。

优胜者的引人注意的中心

今年的另一个第一名奖颁给来自菲律宾马尼拉马普阿大学的27岁的卡维·埃伦·迈格。他发明了AuREUS系统技术，这是詹姆斯·戴森奖有史以来第一个可持续发展奖得主。

它是一种新材料，由废作物制成。这种材料将紫外线转化为可再生能源。

两位获奖者每人将获得 35，000 美元，以解决具有全球重要性的严重问题。获奖者重点介绍了错过乳腺癌筛查的妇女和有效产生可再生能源的可持续方法。

缺少乳腺癌检测

今年，超过30万妇女将被诊断出患有乳腺癌。能够定期测试乳腺癌是非常重要的。

然而，许多妇女跳过测试，因为成本高（170美元及更高）。乳房X光检查带来的身体疼痛对推迟检查的妇女也是一种威慑。

贝内特的蓝盒子会参与解决这个问题。它是一种生物医学设备，用于无痛、无辐照、非侵入性、低成本（60美元）和家庭乳腺癌检测。设备本身在 30 秒内工作，通过简单的尿液样本获得结果。

她解释道："这个名字来自让世界把它视为一个蓝色的盒子的理念，没有什么能消除对癌症的恐惧和担忧。

工作原理

蓝盒使用六个化学传感器，对目标乳腺癌生物标志物做出反应。该过程使用尿液样本和 AI 算法检测乳腺癌的早期迹象。

一旦算法完成诊断，结果将发送回用户的手机，并显示在"蓝盒"应用中。该应用程序与"蓝色盒子"配对，用作云分析的传输系统。

iPhone 和 Android 应用会通知用户诊断结果。此过程只需几分钟。该应用程序支持iPhone和Android平台。

不是只能使用一次的设备。Benet 想到的模型是， 当蓝盒子上市时， 女性可以在网上购买。其他家庭成员可以经常使用，无需额外费用。

该设备将消除目前寻求乳腺癌筛查的妇女到医院或医疗设施就诊的需要，并接受侵入性、有时疼痛且往往代价高昂的手术。

根据疾病控制和预防中心，40%的妇女跳过乳腺癌检查乳房X光检查。这导致三分之一的病例较晚被检测到，从而降低存活的机会。

持续研发

Benet 指出，该设备尚未上市，因此没有正常运行的云连接供公众使用。这将在稍后阶段到来。目前，贝内特正在使用在西班牙医院研究中心采集的尿液样本。

她在加利福尼亚州成立了一家名为"蓝盒生物医学解决方案"的公司，为开发完成后的营销工作做好准备。

贝内特出生于西班牙，年轻时移居加州设计专业。她继续在加州和西班牙大学进行研究。由于冠状病毒的限制，她暂时被迫留在西班牙。

她说，这两个地方都有强大的生物医学研究中心，所以每个地点都将有助于蓝盒的开发和营销。

下一步是在医院收集样品并验证其准确性的试验研究。Benet 必须确保该设备符合欧洲和 FDA 标准，才能进行销售。

接下来的几年至关重要，因为 Benet 和她的团队致力于加州大学欧文分校的原型设计与数据分析软件的最后阶段。他们准备进行人类研究和临床试验，同时提供重要的专利申请

更频繁的早期检测

"蓝盒有可能使癌症筛查成为日常生活的一部分。它可以帮助改变社会对抗乳腺癌的方式，以确保更多的妇女可以避免昂贵的诊断，"今年赢得头奖的Benet说。

詹姆斯戴森告诉我，我赢得了国际奖是一个真正的转折点，因为奖金将允许我更广泛地申请专利，并加快我正在加州大学欧文分校做地研究和软件开发，她补充说。

"但最重要的是，听到他相信我的想法，给了我在这个关键时刻所需要的信心。"她说。

Student Inventor Wins Prize for Breast Cancer Screening Device

By Jack M. Germain Nov 19, 2020 9:40 AM PT

A 23-year-old biomedical engineering student with dual residence in Tarragona, Spain and Irvine, Calif. is one of two first-place winners in the 2020 James Dyson Award announced on Thursday. Her invention aims to help women around the world afford the cost of early testing for breast cancer.

Judit Giró Benet captured the $35,000 cash prize for developing The Blue Box, an at-home reusable breast cancer screening device. Her mother's diagnosis of breast cancer inspired her to find an affordable and effective screening mechanism.

Benet's experience with a dog at the University of Spain at Barcelona where she first started studying biology sparked her interest to find the biological code for detecting cancer. The dog could smell a patient's breath and detect if the patient had lung cancer.

"That piqued my interest in studying how the dog's biology could do this," Benet told TechNewsWorld.

That experience led her to a program of biomedical study at the University of California at Irvine. There she met a professor and worked with a colleague who became her mentor on The Blue Box research and development.

"I believed this device is something that the world needed. I refused to stop until the world told me otherwise," she said.

Banner Year

This year was record-breaking for the James Dyson Award, which has now financially supported 250 promising inventions from young engineers and scientists around the world. Despite the trials the pandemic has brought in 2020, the award received its highest number of entries. The quality was exceptional, highlighting the ingenuity of young inventors, according to James Dyson Award officials.

Judit Giró Benet captured the $35,000 cash prize for developing The Blue Box, an at-home reusable breast cancer screening device.

James Dyson, a British inventor, industrial designer, landowner and entrepreneur, founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation.

"Unfortunately, I have witnessed first-hand the harrowing effects of cancer and as scientists and engineers, we should do anything we can to overcome this terrible disease. Judit is using hardware, software and AI together, in an impressive way, to create a well-designed product that could make cancer screening part of everyday life," Dyson said in a prepared statement.

The data The Blue Box collects and stores in the cloud will provide insight that can enable more precise treatment and expand global knowledge of Cancer, he added.

"She deserves all the support she can get as she navigates the highly complex system of medical approvals," said Dyson.

Winners' Limelight

The other first-place award this year goes to 27-year-old Carvey Ehren Maigue from Mapua University in Manila, Philippines. He invented the AuREUS System technology, the first-ever sustainability winner of the James Dyson Award.

It is a new material, made from waste crop. The material converts UV light into renewable energy.

The two winners each receive $35,000 to solve significant problems of global importance. The winners highlight women missing breast cancer screenings and sustainable methods to effectively generate renewable energy.

Missing Breast Cancer Detection

This year, over 300,000 women will be diagnosed with a form of breast cancer. Being able to test -- and test regularly -- for breast cancer is extremely important.

However, many women skip testing due to the high cost ($170 and up). The physical pain that a mammogram can bring is also a deterrent for women putting off testing.

Benet's The Blue Box steps in to solve this problem. It is a biomedical device for pain-free, non-irradiating, non-invasive, low-cost ($60) and in-home breast cancer testing. The device itself works within 30 seconds, and results are achieved through a simple urine sample.

"The name comes from the notion of having the world see it as a box that is blue and nothing else to eliminate fear and worry about cancer," she explained.

How It Works

The Blue Box uses six chemical sensors and reacts to targeted breast cancer biomarkers. The process uses a urine sample and an AI algorithm to detect early signs of breast cancer.

Once the algorithm has reached a diagnosis, the results are sent back to the user's phone and displayed in The Blue Box app. The app pairs with The Blue Box and serves as a transmission system to the cloud-based analysis.

The iPhone and Android apps notify the user about the diagnosis results. The process takes just a few minutes. The app (pictured above) supports both iPhone and Android platforms.

Not a one-time use device. The model Benet has in mind is when The Blue Box gets on the market, women can buy it online. It can be used by other family members as often as necessary for no additional costs.

The device will eliminate the current need for women seeking breast cancer screening to attend hospitals or medical facilities and undergo an invasive, sometimes painful, and often costly procedure.

According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent of women skip their breast cancer screening mammogram. This results in one-in-three cases being detected late, which leads to a lower chance of survival.

R & D Ongoing

The device is not marketed yet so there is no functioning cloud connection for public use, Benet noted. That will come in later stages. For now, Benet is using urine samples collected at the hospital's research center in Spain.

She set up a company based in California called The Blue Box Biomedical Solution, to prepare for the marketing efforts once development is completed.

Benet was born in Spain and moved to California as a young design student. She continues to conduct research at both the California and Spain university facilities. Because of the coronavirus restrictions, she is temporarily forced to stay in Spain.

She said both locations have strong biomedical research centers so each location will contribute to the development and marketing of The Blue Box.

The next step is the trial studies collecting samples in the hospital and verifying its accuracy. Benet must make sure that the device meets both European and U.S. FDA standards for approval before she can market it.

The next few years are crucial as Benet and her team work toward the final stages of prototyping and data analytics software at the University of California Irvine. They are ready for human studies and clinical trials alongside vital patent filings

More Frequent Early Detection

"The Blue Box has the potential to make cancer screening a part of daily life. It can help to change the way society fights breast cancer to ensure that more women can avoid an advanced diagnosis," Benet said about winning the top prize this year.

The day that James Dyson told me that I had won the International prize was a real turning point, as the prize money will allow me to patent more extensively and expedite research and software development I am doing at the University of California Irvine, she added.

"But, most of all, hearing that he believes in my idea has given me the confidence I need at this vital point," she said.