NVC Alum Milo Wins Second Prize of NIAAA Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge

Today the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism announced the winners of its Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge, a competition to design a discreet device capable of measuring blood alcohol levels in near real-time. The winning prototype and recipient of the $200,000 first prize was submitted by BACtrack, a company known nationally for designing and selling portable breath alcohol testers for consumer use and professional use. Their entry, the BACtrackSkyn, is worn on the wrist and offers continuous and non-invasive monitoring of a user’s BAC. Alcohol is detected using a fuel cell technology similar to that in devices used by law enforcement for roadside alcohol testing. The device connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone to store data.

The Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge, issued through Challenge.gov in March 2015, called for non-invasive wearable technology that could improve upon existing alcohol biosensor technology used in the criminal justice system. An improved alcohol biosensor could be a valuable resource for the alcohol research community, decreasing reliance on participant self-report in scientific studies.

View the full article here.
 
National Institutes of Health