A technology firm founded by University of California, Los Angeles, professor Aydogan Ozcan and his students has made it to the final round of a $2.25 million international competition for companies improving health care by developing advanced, consumer-friendly sensing devices. Professor Aydogan Ozcan in the lab. The company he founded, Holomic, is one of 12 finalists in a Nokia-sponsored contest centered on advances in consumer-oriented mobile health technologies. Courtesy UCLA The company, Holomic LLC, is one of 12 finalists in the 2013 Nokia Sensing XChallenge, a contest designed to spur advances in consumer-oriented mobile health technologies. Judges will award prizes up to $525,000 to firms developing accurate and reliable sensors for identifying and diagnosing diseases and other health conditions. Competitors hail from Japan, Israel, the UK and other areas around the US. “We are very excited to be named among the finalists for the 2013 XChallenge,” Ozcan said. “Through this opportunity, we would like to impact human life by developing cutting-edge technology solutions to the hardest problems that we today face for telemedicine and its applications in the developed and developing countries.” Holomic has developed a series of lightweight and compact lens-free microscopes and diagnostic tools that can be attached to camera phones to test blood samples and other bodily fluids. The company also has created portable devices to gather and transmit data evaluating bacteria and allergens in water or food supplies. Another creation, a diagnostic test reader, provides instant access to electronic health records and other information useful in direct care or public health monitoring. “While there has been an influx of market activity around health and fitness applications, medical diagnostic and sensing technologies for consumers remain scarce,” said Nokia Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President Henry Tirri. “Through this competition and the selection of the finalist teams, we’re eager to see the developments in consumer-focused applications and technologies that will potentially transform the way health care is delivered across the globe on multiple levels, including monitoring, prevention, diagnosis and disease management.” Named one of Popular Science magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young innovators, Ozcan, who participated in a Photonics Media bioimaging webinar in June, holds numerous patents related to optics, lensless imaging and nanoscopy. He joined the UCLA engineering faculty in 2007 and holds joint appointments in the electrical engineering and bioengineering departments. For more information, visit: innovate.ee.ucla.edu