Highly-Sensitive Point-of-Care Diagnostics & Disease Monitoring

Description

This technology is a novel, highly-sensitive platform to diagnose and monitor diseases in real time at a doctor’s office. Many chronic diseases like cancer and IBD do not have initial screening tests and solely rely on invasive, uncomfortable and time-consuming procedures (like biopsies and colonoscopies). Having a less invasive screening test would assist in reducing the number of patients who would need more invasive testing, and in some cases, it may eliminate the need for additional, more expensive and burdensome procedures.

To that end, this infrared spectroscopy system enables the early detection of unique biochemical fingerprints (or biomarkers) associated with different disease states. In turn, this system may enable early diagnosis, disease progression monitoring, therapeutic efficacy assessment and research across varied medical fields such as immunology, inflammatory diseases, and oncology. Among many patient groups who would benefit, this will be especially important for pediatric or other patients who cannot withstand invasive testing.

Benefits

Minimally or Non-Invasive – requires only small amounts of biological samples (e.g., saliva, serum, etc.), potentially reducing reliance on invasive procedures like biopsies or colonoscopies
Rapid and Sensitive – detects biochemical changes at molecular level, enabling early detection of disease states for quick treatment response decisions
Flexible – broad applicability across multiple diseases, including inflammatory diseases (e.g. colitis, IBD) and cancerous conditions (e.g. oral, skin, blood cancers)

Applications

Point-of-care diagnostic devices and clinical laboratories
Early detection, diagnosis and monitoring of inflammatory bowel diseases such as colitis and IBD
Screening and diagnosis of cancers such as melanoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and oral cancers
Identification and monitoring of cellular activation states in immunological research
Potential for personalized monitoring of chemotherapeutic treatment responses
Biomedical research and pharmaceutical development focused on biomarker discovery
Non-invasive health screening tools in hospitals and outpatient settings