Peruvian Scientist and Research Team Wins Funding from Google for Autism Project

Based on the statistics given by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 160 minors is suffering from a kind of Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD. ASD is a brain and developmental illness where symptoms vary in every person who has the disease. This disease can adversely affect a person's skills in socializing and communicating with people.

The disease can be detected in as early as fourteen months. It is frequently discovered at the age of five for those who are living in first-world countries.

Poverty in Latin American nations had increased to thirty-one percent in 2019. In most places in the region, poverty is increasing faster than other nations in the region.

Experts are committing their time and effort to formulate a cure and possible treatment for people who are suffering from the disease.

The Latin American Research Awards or LARA is an award that Google sponsors every year giving $500,000 as additional funding for projects in the scientific field that utilizes the latest technology in their studies such as for research conducted for creating cures and treatments. The award is recently given to Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia's group of experts conducting research who are studying for the early identification of autism among children from families who are in or below the poverty line through the assistance of a mobile device.

Macarena Vittet and Mirko Zimic, a Peruvian scientist, are the leaders of that project. Based on the statement released by the Andean Agency, the device which the team is working on will be a portable instrument that can help record the eye movements of children. These children will be asked to watch a video then their eye movements can help the scientists to analyze the preferences of where the student wants to look. The device will also be equipped to monitor facial gestures to determine the emotional condition of the children. The technology will also be mobilized with a pupilometry to identify any abnormalities in the nervous system of the children.

The cheap and portable device will also use machine learning technology and will be a great help to financially challenged communities in the region.

As of the moment, it is the sole award that the research team had won.

Mirko Zimic, the Peruvian scientist co-leader of the study, had successfully acquired funding for four other projects. He was also awarded financial assistance for the research of early detection of tuberculosis among people.

According to Google Latin America's Director of Engineer Andina Berthier, the efforts of the company is geared towards helping find solutions to numerous problems that affects the lives of people such as the immediate identification of the reproduction grounds of mosquitos carrying the dengue virus, diagnosis of plagues and lung nodules, and the categorization of skin cancer.

There are multiple organizations and different researchers working on similar projects and these are also receiving funding from different organizations.

Aside from the Peruvian scientist Mirko Zimic and his team, some of the other winners of the award are researchers from Argentina, Columbia, Chile, and Brazil. Most of their researches is aimed towards refining the process and methods employed in the medical industry in improving the lifestyle of the community by providing cures and early detections of various diseases.