Harvard Professors Ridhi Tariyal and Stephen Gire

There’s an interesting “what” in this piece, but an insufficient description of “how.” Two Harvard researchers have developed a smart tampon that captures menstrual blood and cells in a way that makes medical samples. (How?) The samples then can be tested for evidence of polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, ovarian cancer, uterine fibroids, STD’s, and fertility. They must have told the Illumina Accelerator how this is done, because they put up the financial backing for the resulting company NextGenJane (Oakland, CA; phone 415-722-2226). If this works, an earlier detection of ovarian cancer would be a major accomplishment. MORE

Image Credit: Harvard and QMed.com