Robert Mannino was curious about his disease, beta thalassemia. He wanted to study it. And that’s exactly what he’s been doing for the past six years at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University.

Now a grad student, Mannino conducts his work in the lab of Petit Institute researcher Wilbur Lam, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.

And he’s making great progress.

Often serving as his own test subject, Mannino is the perfect combination of patient and researcher as he continues developing innovative solutions, including an app that can monitor hemoglobin levels.

Read the whole story here.