Harvard graduates develop sanitary napkins with 3D printing to detect sexually transmitted diseases

Release date: 2016-06-23

Is the syringe the most effective way to draw blood from a patient? If you have serious needle fear or live in a remote area where medical supplies are difficult to obtain, then you may have to find an alternative. In response to this situation, the ingenious invention of a Harvard-based startup, NextGen Jane, made it easy for half of the world's people to get a source of blood – menstrual blood. The company's 3D printed tampon accessory allows users to easily test their own sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive diseases without ever having to face the needle. Although the product is still in development, the company has completed its first prototype of 3D printed sanitary napkin accessories.

NextGen Jane was founded by Harvard graduate Ridhi Tariyal and her former research colleague Stephen Gire. According to Tariyal, this test suite is derived from a study of fertility rates. “At the time, I tried to develop a way to help women monitor their fertility at home, but doing this type of diagnostic test requires a lot of blood. So I was thinking about women and blood. When you put two When the words are put together, the results are obvious. So, we have an opportunity every month to collect blood from women without a needle," Ridhi Tariyal said. .

This test needs to be a bit urgent in 2013, when Tariyal was unable to monitor fertility because her insurance company was reluctant to reimburse the fee unless she was unable to become pregnant. This prompted Tariyal to resolve to develop the product.

The great thing about menstrual blood is that it contains more than just blood cells. In addition, it contains cells from the ovaries and uterus, so it can provide patients with more information about Chlamydia, human papillomavirus (which can cause genital warts and cervical cancer). In addition, they are also studying the detection of polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids and endometriosis by menstrual blood, which are currently diagnosed by less comfortable laparoscopic surgery.

It is foreseeable that this device invented by Tariyal will provide a magical and non-invasive way to test a large number of various diseases. At present, tens of thousands of women often have many cures that are not curable. Over time, these complications – which may not be obvious – may have a huge negative impact on a woman's fertility. "Life shouldn't be like this," Tariyal said. “The purpose of our products is to help you manage your health, from menarche to menopause.”

To this end, she collaborated with her close friend and infectious disease expert Stephen Gire and began by providing women with the health information as easy as possible. Their research was assisted by the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship project, which aims to help graduates set up their own companies. Curtis Keith, chief scientific officer of the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, recalls that Tariyal has an excellent concept. “She is very different. She knows what kind of life she wants. This is more than the idea of ​​(women's health). I think she is confident,” he revealed.

In the early stages of development, they considered creating a smart tampon with a diagnostic chip on it and sending the acquired data to an app. But Tariyal is not satisfied with this concept. How many women will use this high-tech equipment? So they finally decided to perform medical tests in vitro through a special flow capture tool. In the past year or so, the two have been using a 3D printed prototype (capable of extracting liquid from sanitary napkins) to show investors this concept. This is a very simple tool that a woman can use in her own bathroom.

However, despite strong smart products and support from Harvard University, both of them found themselves facing a hard battle. Sexually transmitted diseases and menstruation are not the subject of fashion – many people are not flustered, in part because the term menstrual blood sounds a bit disgusting.

Fortunately, Illumina, a well-known gene sequencing company, is very interested in this concept, especially because it can extract more than the bleeding cells. Of particular interest to them is the use of tampon to detect endometriosis, a painful uterine tissue disease.

With funding support, researchers are now able to provide their entire working hours to NextGen Jane, for which their blood and biomarker extraction devices are rapidly evolving. Especially with the help of the Illumina Accelerator project, they have been able to penetrate into the diagnostic field.

The startup is currently conducting clinical trials with their 3D printed prototypes. In addition, they are also seeking healthy female volunteers as a research sample for endometriosis. “You can be part of our trial, which is actually very simple, you only need to provide us with a used tampon,” says Tariyal. "This kind of thing that you would have thrown away can actually push science further." According to Tiangong, the final product (estimated non-3D printing) is expected to be completed next year.

Source: Tiangongshe

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