1. Can you tell us about your background and what led you towards a career in science?
From very early on in my life, I developed a strong interest for seeing and understanding our world. However, I never planned to become a scientist. Nothing was more interesting to me than the complexity of the human body. So, at first, I wanted to study medicine to understand how the human body works and how to fix it or enhance its operation.
However, after a few years of voluntary service in the local Red Cross as a medical emergency technician, I realized that working as a medical doctor was not my passion. I was also very curious about technology, so I went to study electronic engineering. Soon after I started my studies, I realized that I had taken the right decision. While studying electronic engineering, I learned about Bioelectronics, and I became very excited about it. Bioelectronics deals with the interactions between electrical and biological systems. Hence, Bioelectronics would allow me to apply my skills as an engineer in the field of medicine.
After a tough and lengthy selection process, I had the privilege of being admitted to the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV) in Mexico City, the only Center of Excellence in Mexico offering Postgraduate studies in Bioelectronics at the time. I moved from my hometown in Torreón, Coahuila, located in the north of Mexico, to Mexico City to do my master’s and PhD studies in Bioelectronics in the CINVESTAV. That is how my career as a scientist began.
2. Your experience is in bio-electronics – how did you transition into glucose monitoring technology?
The working principles of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) have been known for decades and have found many practical medical and industrial applications. However, my previous interest in medicine and my background in bioelectronics helped me and my team to identify the high value of MHD in glucose monitoring.
3. Tell us about your role as CTO – what are your day-to-day responsibilities?
Our team is highly diverse, skillful, and ambitious. I enjoy my role as the CTO at GlucoModicum because it gives me the opportunity to learn from top experts from different fields of knowledge every day.
My responsibility is to ensure that we work efficiently and synergistically towards reaching our goal of delivering the first needle-free glucose monitor to the market. I also work closely with our world-leading partners and maintain a healthy communication with our investors and tech partners.
4. What do you see as the biggest challenges to glucose monitoring technology today?
Getting access to a sample that proportionally reflects the concentration of glucose in blood and doing it non-invasively and painlessly.
This is where GlucoModicum’s MHD technology stands out. Using MHD we can extract fluid from the skin containing similar concentrations of glucose as in blood. MHD is painless, gentle to the skin, and needle-free.
5. How do you see the field developing in the next 5, 10, 20 years?
There is a large and rapidly growing demand for better solutions to help people to prevent and manage diabetes. Our society is becoming more aware of the role and importance of periodic glucose monitoring.
GlucoModicum, based on its enabling MHD technology, is well positioned to deliver the first accurate, affordable, and needle-free solution for glucose monitoring, which can be a life-changing tool for people with diabetes or at risk of getting diabetes.
We have seen remarkable progress in the fields of biosensors and electronics. This has resulted in more accurate, smaller, and wearable devices that enable continuous glucose monitoring. However, the problem of avoiding the use of needles remains unsolved. Needles deter many people from adopting such products.
Optic solutions hold big promise; however, despite being intensively investigated, their suitability has still not been demonstrated. While it is logical to expect more breakthroughs in the field, other new developments will take time and accuracy will always be the rate limiter.
6. What is the most exciting highlight of your career so far?
Becoming an entrepreneur has been a memorable experience. It has always been something I wanted to do, but I never expected it to happen as it did.
7. What is your vision for GlucoModicum?
GlucoModicum has a committed and capable team that has produced a truly unique technology in our precise, non-invasive glucose monitor. My vision is that we will use MHD and our product, the Talisman, to create freedom from needles.
