I-Corps Teams: Chromanostics: Minimal-equipment synthetic biology diagnostics

人类缺乏维生素和矿物质是每年造成数百万人死亡的原因，主要是在发展中国家，这些国家无法获得昂贵的设备（在许多情况下，还有电力）。各国政府和非政府机构希望提供援助以解决这种营养不良问题，需要有效的方法来衡量不同地区的维生素或矿物质缺乏情况，以及哪些人群最需要他们的援助。目前，测量血液样本中的营养水平对这些组织来说是非常昂贵的。在这个项目中，I-Corps团队将确认一种新型诊断测试的商业可行性，该测试可以测量人体血液中的某些维生素或矿物质水平，并且可以在几乎没有科学设备或电力的环境中经济地部署。拟议的系统将为卫生保健工作者提供改善和维持人类健康所需的信息。该项目将涉及客户发现、市场分析以及与提议的创新相关的商业模式的开发。该团队打算采访至少100个潜在客户，以更好地评估我们分析系统的所需特征和能力，并更好地定义客户细分以及所需客户的特征。团队还将努力更好地定义市场和我们的竞争优势，包括独特的价值主张。基于这项研究的发现，团队可能会选择修改我们的分析系统的特征，以更好地定义目标市场，也许更准确地定义拟议项目的价值主张及其竞争优势。如果这项计划可行，将对全球的营养流行病学工作产生重大影响。提出的技术提供了一个数量级的降低成本的潜力，以及现场测量营养水平。结果将在几个小时或一夜之间获得，而目前的技术需要冷藏运输样品，从取样到收到结果需要一周或更长时间。这种方法的成本较低，使其完全适用于从事营养流行病学工作的组织，这意味着可以在足够有意义的规模上对人口进行抽样，以便在营养干预方面做出明智的决定。此外，该团队希望该产品为干预后的营养监测开辟一个新的市场；由于目前的测量成本如此之高，跟踪营养干预的成功在经济上是不可行的。拟议的方法可以使跟踪成为可能，从而使科学家和医生能够更好地了解他们的干预措施哪些是有效的，在哪里有效，最终在发展中国家和其他国家挽救生命和节省资金。

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies in humans are the cause of millions of deaths annually, primarily in developing nations with limited access to expensive equipment (and in many cases, electricity). Governments and non-government agencies that look to provide aid to address this malnutrition need effective ways to measure which vitamin or mineral deficiencies affect different regions, and which groups of people are most in need of their aid. Currently, measurement of nutrient levels in blood samples is prohibitively expensive for these organizations. In this project, the I-Corps team will confirm the commercial viability of a novel diagnostic test that can measure certain vitamin or mineral levels in human blood, and that can be economically deployed on site in environments with little access to scientific equipment or electricity. The proposed system will provide healthcare workers with information needed to improve and maintain human health.This project will involve customer discovery, market analysis, and the development of a business model related to the proposed innovation. This team intends to interview at least 100 potential customers to better assess the desired characteristics and capabilities of our assay system, and to better define customer segments as well as the characteristics of the desired customer. The team will also strive to better define the market and our competitive advantages, including the unique value proposition. Based on the findings of this research, the team may elect to modify the characteristics of our assay system, to better define target markets, and perhaps more accurately define the proposed project's value proposition and its competitive advantages. The proposed venture, should it be viable, would have a significant impact on nutritional epidemiology work done globally. The proposed technology offers the potential for an order of magnitude reduction in cost, as well as on-site measurement of nutrient levels. Results will be available within a few hours or overnight, compared to the current state of the art which entails refrigerated shipping of samples with a week or more between sampling and receipt of results. The lower cost of this approach places it squarely within the reach of organizations performing nutritional epidemiology work, meaning that populations can be sampled on a meaningful enough scale to allow informed decisions on nutritional interventions. Moreover, this team expects this product to open a new market for nutritional monitoring after interventions; since current measurement costs are so high, tracking the success of a nutritional intervention is not economically viable. The proposed approach could enable tracking that would then allow for scientists and doctors to better understand which of their interventions are working and where, ultimately saving both lives and dollars in the developing world and beyond.