{"id":2815,"date":"2015-07-14T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=2815"},"modified":"2017-05-24T12:48:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T17:48:25","slug":"brenner-teams-fertility-monitor-wins-state-competition","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/brenner-teams-fertility-monitor-wins-state-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Madison: Brenner team\u2019s fertility monitor wins state competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fertility<\/a>MADISON \u2014 Katie Brenner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her team of co-founders won the 2015 Wisconsin Governor\u2019s Business Plan Contest in Madison for an app-based device to help women monitor their fertility.<\/p>\n

Brenner is a scientist in the lab of Doug Weibel, professor of biochemistry, and the pair co-founded bluDiagnostics. The bluDiagnostics Fertility Finder is a thermometer-like device that measures two hormones found in a woman\u2019s saliva, estradiol and progesterone. Results are then available through an app on a mobile device and can also be sent to a physician.<\/p>\n

The bluDiagnostics team, which also includes Madison-based Jodi Schroll and Kate Toews, submitted its idea to the contest and was selected from an initial pool of 238 entries. The team is now looking to raise funds to manufacture a prototype and apply for Food and Drug Administration approval by late 2016.<\/p>\n

“The award reflects months of hard work by an amazing team, surrounded by talented mentors, and encouraged by the fantastic entrepreneurial climate at UW-Madison and in Wisconsin,\u201d Brenner says. \u201cWe are very grateful to be part of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Community, among many people who are working hard to make the world a better place.”<\/p>\n

Brenner is a scientist in Weibel\u2019s lab. Last fall, she was one of five researchers in the U.S. chosen for the prestigious Women in Science Fellowship<\/a> from L\u2019Oreal USA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her work developing a test for detecting early signs of infection in premature infants.<\/p>\n

Brenner is also a 2014 alumna of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, offered through the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship in the Wisconsin School of Business.<\/p>\n

Brenner joined 13 finalists \u2013 including several others with UW-Madison ties \u2013 in presenting business plans to a panel of judges and Wisconsin Entrepreneur\u2019s Conference attendees at the Alliant Energy Center.<\/p>\n

The other finalists with ties to the university include:<\/p>\n