I-Corps: Molecular diagnostics using optofluidic technology

这个创新队项目的目标是验证一个特定的商业机会，并使用便携式仪器上的分子检测分析来测试光流体检测原理。具体而言，拟议的团队将：(i)严格评估利用光流芯片进行分子检测的商业化潜力，包括确定相关客户群、确定目标细分市场和规模，以及制定商业计划；（ii）演示alpha版光流体检测原型的改进版本，该原型可用于向潜在投资者和客户进行现场演示。如果成功，集成的光学芯片可以用来创造一种新的生物医学诊断设备，用更简单的分析方法取代聚合酶链反应（PCR），直接检测基因组核酸，而不需要昂贵和复杂的目标扩增。因此，该技术适用于各种分子诊断应用，特别是那些测试时间、成本、可移植性或复杂性是主要问题的应用。PI/团队设想为分子诊断市场开发光流体诊断仪器，特别是核酸检测。其中，PI/小组正在考虑传染性快速即时诊断（例如传染病检测）和伴随诊断（例如癌症生物标志物监测）。

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).