HemaChrome Collaborates with Global Health Labs to Enhance Mobile Health Technology
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — HemaChrome LLC, a Purdue University-founded digital health startup, is partnering with Global Health Labs Inc. (GH Labs) to improve its mobile health technology. HemaChrome’s technology allows users to instantly and noninvasively measure blood hemoglobin levels using a smartphone camera.
The technology leverages machine learning and computational algorithms to transform a smartphone or computer camera into a hyperspectral imager. This innovation enables clinicians to perform point-of-care, home-based, and remote diagnostic tests on patients at a reduced cost by assessing blood hemoglobin content from a digital photo of the inner eyelid. To maximize accuracy, HemaChrome incorporates a unique, patent-pending method for extracting true colors from a digital photo, offering a level of precision currently unmatched in the market.
According to Young Kim, HemaChrome’s founder and chief science officer and a Purdue University researcher, “Several factors including smartphone models, light conditions and file formats cause the actual colors to appear differently in a digital photo, so this innovation is a critical aspect of our technology and one of the key reasons GH Labs is collaborating with us — we are a pioneer in machine reading and learning of colors in the health care space.”
GH Labs, a nonprofit organization funded by Gates Ventures, the private office of Bill Gates, aims to develop health technology solutions for low- and middle-income countries. The collaboration between HemaChrome and GH Labs, initiated in May 2024, will continue through 2025 and will involve GH Labs assisting in enhancing HemaChrome’s algorithms.
Huiri Kim, HemaChrome’s CEO based out of Chicago, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration: “GH Labs’ mission is to facilitate innovation to reduce health disparities across the globe,” she said. “HemaChrome’s driving force is to develop technologies that make health care more readily available to the vulnerable and underserved. While our noninvasive and affordable technology will be beneficial for everyone, it will have the most significant impact for underserved populations.”
The Impact of Anemia
Blood hemoglobin tests are essential as hemoglobin levels can indicate various health conditions. Traditional tests often require expensive equipment and trained professionals, making them underutilized. However, HemaChrome’s technology offers an affordable and accessible alternative, addressing a critical global health challenge.
Huiri Kim emphasized the significance of this technology in addressing anemia, a condition affecting approximately 1.93 billion individuals worldwide, or a quarter of the global population. Anemia ranks as the third-leading cause of disabilities globally. While often preventable and treatable, the lack of affordable testing options has led to rising cases. She noted, “Many people, especially those in low-resource settings, don’t have the resources to be tested for anemia, so they don’t realize they’re anemic and never get treated.”
Young Kim added that quickly diagnosing anemia is critical because it indicates numerous diseases, including sickle cell disease, kidney disease, inflammatory disease, and more. “So it’s important to have an affordable and accessible diagnostic solution,” he stressed.
Governments also have a financial incentive to address anemia, according to Huiri Kim, since the condition can decrease productivity. GH Labs is supporting initiatives involving the vetting of new technologies to tackle gaps in anemia diagnosis.
With GH Labs’ support, HemaChrome anticipates introducing a minimum viable product by late 2025. Looking ahead, Huiri Kim stated, “We hope that after our current collaboration with GH Labs is completed, we can continue to partner with them on related projects, including our color calibration technology, which we believe will transform the digital health care space.”
