Inspired by her mother’s battler with breast cancer, a 23-year-old Spanish female engineer invented the first at-home breast cancer screening exam dubbed The Blue Box.
Winner of this year’s 2020 James Dyson Award, Judit Giró Benet, from Tarragona Spain, invented the The Blue Box, an easy-to-use, at-home, breast cancer testing device. It uses a urine sample and an AI algorithm to detect early signs of breast cancer.
40% of women miss their screenings leading resulting in 1 in 3 cases being detected late— Benet hopes to make screening more accessible and less costly.
The Spanish engineer is currently undergoing patent discussions for The Blue Box, and will spend the next few years working on the final stages of prototyping and data analytics software at the University of California Irvine, in preparation for human studies and clinical trials.
Once cleared, Benet plans to sell the device for $60. “An entire household of women can use The Blue Box at their desired frequency and convenience,” Benet says.
About 250,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women each year and about 2,300 in men in the United States alone according to the CDC. Early detection makes it possible in treating the disease and preventing fatalities, which makes regular testing incredibly important. And Benet just came up with a groundbreaking solution to the problem which could save thousands of lives in the process.
