Students and alumni from Grand Valley State University have teamed up to create a new invention to help those with diabetes identify when they’re having a low blood sugar episode.

The Brio Band is a prototype development created by HC&T Solutions, a medical and health product research company. It was founded in 2015 by Adam Popour, Jake Boudreau, Anush Yepremyan and Alissa Smith, all of whom have graduated from or are currently working on an advanced degree at GVSU.

The Brio Band acts as a diabetic smart watch providing daily health information such as step tracking, but it also serves as an alert system for symptoms of low blood sugar.

It uses built-in sensors and a predictive platform which detects and learns the user’s personal reaction to low blood sugar levels. The watch can measure the person’s heart rate and level of perspiration among other symptoms of low blood sugar.

The Brio Band can then send an alert to a caregiver, friend or family member warning them a low blood sugar episode is near or in progress. This can be done via SMS text message, call or in-app messaging with the companion application.

The companion application will be compatible with iOS and Android mobile operating systems and will include a space for logging information such as fitness and food intake.

Popour, CEO of HC&T Solutions, said the inspiration for the watch came from a personal experience when he found a friend of his unconscious due to a low blood sugar episode. The watch is equipped with GPS, so location tracking can help to save a life.

“(Going into a low blood sugar episode) is a scary thing for people who have diabetes,” Popour said. “It’s also scary for their friends and family who can’t be around them all the time, so we wanted to come up with a solution for that.”

The Brio Band also has a built-in glucometer, lancet and strip storage for easy blood sugar testing. This eliminates the need to carry a full kit around all the time.

Boudreau, CEO of HC&T Solutions, said the Brio Band is unique to anything on the market today because it does not require attachments and multiple devices in order to do its job.

“The majority of products out there (for diabetes) are things that you have to connect with an existing device,” Boudreau said. “Brio Band gives you everything you need in one device on your wrist.”

Yepremyan, marketing strategist for HC&T Solutions, said the company kept the style of the watch in mind when working on the renderings for the design.

“It will be available in many different colors,” Yepremyan said. “We wanted to make it appeal to what anyone likes.”

HC&T Solutions is currently working on patents for its product and hoping the manufacturing can begin soon with the goal of releasing it next year.

The company currently has an IndieGoGo site for donations which can be found their website at www.hct-solutions.com/campaign.

Popour said the company has high expectations for the future and plans to conduct more research and create more products for medical needs. While the goal is to expand nationally, the company plans to keep Michigan roots and do as much production as possible in the area.