Google Buys Senosis Health, Maker of Diagnostic Apps for Smartphones: Report

Google has acquired Senosis Health, a Seattle-based health monitoring startup founded by University of Washington Professor Shwetak Patel, the media reported.

The startup turns smartphones into medical devices and collects various health stats, GeekWire reported on Sunday.

Using functions on a smartphone including its accelerometer, microphone, flash and camera, the Senosis apps can monitor lung health and haemoglobin counts, among other things, the report said.

For example, to measure the haemoglobin, Senosis' app uses the phone's flash to illuminate a user's finger.

It marks the latest acquisition for Patel, whose past startup ventures have landed in the hands of companies such as Belkin International and Sears, according to the Geekwire.com report.

Patel, who founded the company with four others, is a professor at University of Washington's computer science and engineering faculty.

According to a biography at University of Washington website, Patel was a founder of Zensi, Inc, a demand side energy monitoring solutions provider, which was acquired by Belkin, Inc in 2010.

He is also a co-founder of a low-power wireless sensor platform company called SNUPI Technologies and a consumer home sensing product called WallyHome.

WallyHome was acquired by Sears in 2015.

A recipient of many awards, his past work was also honoured by the New York Times as a top technology of the year in 2005.