I-Corps: Molecular diagnostics using optofluidic technology

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The goal of this Innovation Corps project is to validate a specific business opportunity and to test the optofluidic detection principle using a molecular detection assay on a portable instrument. Specifically, the proposed team will: (i) Critically evaluate the commercialization potential of molecular detection using optofluidic chips, including determination of a relevant customer base, identification of target market segments and sizes, and development of a business plan; and, (ii) Demonstrate an improved version of an alpha-version optofluidic detection prototype that can be used for live demonstrations to potential investors and customers. If successful, the integrated optical chip can be used to create a new class of biomedical diagnostic devices that replace polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with simpler analytical approach that directly detects genomic nucleic acids without the need for costly and complex target amplification. As a result, this technology has applications for a variety of molecular diagnostic applications, in particular those for which test time, cost, portability, or complexity are major issues. The PI/team envision developing optofluidic diagnostic instruments for the molecular diagnostic market, in particular for nucleic acid testing. Among those, the PI/team are considering infectious rapid point-of-care diagnostics (e.g. infectious disease detection) and companion diagnostics (e.g. cancer biomarker monitoring).