Alumna competes in CDC challenge to enhance lead testing for children
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It is estimated that one in 40 children under six years old have blood lead levels that are considered unsafe, according to the University of Michigan Health CS Mott Children’s Hospital.
Lead poisoning is a significant public health issue in the United States and around the world, disproportionately impacting children living in communities experiencing disadvantage or poverty.
In fact, children ages six years old and younger are more likely to be exposed to lead poisoning due to their hand-to-mouth behavior.
Alumna Elena Boselli and Richard and Loan Hill Professor Ian Papautsky entered the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lead Detect Prize challenge and received funding from Phase One. The challenge focused on a million-dollar challenge to enhance testing for lead in children. Through providing funding and expertise and encouraging collaboration and partnership, the Lead Detect Prize hopes to identify and foster new or existing breakthrough solutions and products for better lead testing in children.
“In children, the blood-brain barrier is not fully formed until age six, so lead can enter and accumulate in the brain,” Boselli said. “Studies have shown that heavy metals have an impact on children’s IQ, academic performance, and cognitive abilities and development.”
Papautsky added that these effects are one of the main reasons leaded gasoline was banned in 1996. Other sources of lead exposure may be ingestion through lead-based paint, asbestos, or lead-contaminated water, such as from lead pipes, ingestion of food from contaminated soils, some imported candies and traditional medicines, and some imported toys and jewelry.
Boselli and Papautsky decided to enter the challenge as Boselli had experience with similar research done as part of her dissertation for her PhD, which she successfully defended in December 2023. Boselli’s dissertation was focused on developing sensors for point of care that detected heavy metals such as lead, manganese, and arsenic in water and blood.
“We were one of five finalist teams for Phase One of the challenge, so now we enter Phase Two, which is a six-month accelerator program to further develop the solution,” Boselli said. “As part of the challenge, the CDC put up a one-million-dollar prize, so we’ll learn more about the requirements, needs, and how to approach the FDA approval process, the waiver process, and all these regulatory aspects of having a sensor system that can be used by the public. From there, we get a chance to submit a revised proposal for Phase Two and compete for the big prize.”
Boselli received her master’s in biomedical engineering through the dual degree program between UIC and the Politecnico di Milano and went on to receive her PhD from UIC in biomedical engineering also while working in Papautsky’s lab.
Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at UIC, is assisting with the research. Specifically, how people will interact with the technology.
Up to three Phase Two winners will receive a share of the $850,000 Phase 2 prize pool.