How an invention that makes satellites work better will make us healthier

COIMBRA, Portugal - Jan. 18, 2021 - PRLog -- Imagine all the power of a sophisticated blood test, without the needles, without the costs, and being able to repeat the tests continuously to look for changes over time.  ViBo Health, a start-up based in Portugal and USA, is making a scanner that quickly and painlessly tells users how they are doing in terms of health and wellness.  By tracking "metabolites," a health dashboard lets the user see various wellness indicators over time.  The technology relies on some clever inventions made by the European Space Agency (ESA) for satellites.

The start-up company is taking advantage of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), the same physics that allows MRI machines to create images of our bodies.  ViBo Health is combing these well-established methods with ESA space technology to bring NMR to customers, without requiring any blood drawn.  Dr. Gil Travish (co-founder of ViBo Health) spoke about the role of ESA's technology: "Space technology has to meet tight requirements, operate in a hostile environment, but also meet size and weight constraints.  Often these demands force novel solutions which can apply in new domains.  Here, we are taking antenna and communication satellite technology and applying them to 'bend the cost curve' and offer performance previously only available in exotic and expensive laboratory devices."

Formed in 2020, during the pandemic, the company is on a journey to bring this ambitious technology to market.  This journey will need the help of institutions such as ESA Space Solutions Centres.  While everyone's wellness can benefit from general health knowledge, some applications are more urgent than others.  Armin Azod (co-founder of ViBo Health) speculated that, "Sepsis is a serious concern and is responsible for a third of hospital deaths in the US.  Our technology may be able to detect sepsis at the bedside in seconds without having to wait for lab results.  Treatments can begin sooner and with more confidence."

The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.  ESA is an international organization with 22 Member States. ESA supports startups through its ESA Business Incubation Centres (BICs), the largest network of space incubators in Europe (https://space.ipn.pt/).

Based in Coimbra (Portugal) and Los Angeles (USA), ViBo Health (https://www.vibo.health) is working to make predictive, personalized and precision healthcare a reality.  We are creating a world where everyone can track their health status using a quick and painless wrist scan.