Aneeve to develop hormone sensors from inkjet printed carbon nanotubes

When women approach menopause hormones can often become unbalanced, and symptoms can be confused and incorrectly diagnosed with other health problems.

 

New start-up company Aneeve Nanotechnologies may be able to help by providing consumer based easy to use sensors that detect oestrogen and progesterone hormone levels in menopausal women.

 

Early stage research will be conducted to develop the novel hormone sensor which could also be used in other biomedical applications such as infertility. The team will use carbon nanotube technology from UCLA to increase hormonal detection sensitivity - making it superior to any other product currently available, claim the company.

 

The meter will provide on-demand hormonal levels so patients can better control drug intake related to hormone therapy. The system will use ultra sensitive nanoelectronic technologies and is intended to be low cost, compact and easy to use. Currently, there is no such meter commercially available.

 

The sensor and transducer technology will measure hormone concentrations using specially made hormone tabs - similar to the glucose tabs used by diabetics - made by low-cost and precise ink-jet printing of carbon nanotubes. Additionally, the device will allow couples to monitor hormone patterns to help increase chances of fertility, especially among those seeking infertility treatments.

 

"Aneeve's proof-of-concept work will be greatly aided by access to cutting-edge lab equipment and technical expertise at the incubator," University of Southern California professor Chongwu Zhou said. "This will propel the research and development efforts significantly and help Aneeve to get to market that much faster."

 

Aneeve is currently funded via the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with Small Business Innovation Research awards totalling more than $900,000.

 

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