2018

AACC’S Disruptive Technology Award Competition 2018

Congratulations to all of AACC’s Disruptive Technology Award Finalists

Come and see the 3 finalists live at the Annual Scientific Meeting as they present their technology and compete for the title. Each team will present to a panel of expert judges and the audience will get a chance to vote for their favorite.

Special thanks to the following experts for their valuable time and feedback during the execution and planning of this event

• Barbara Goodman, President & COO, Cures within Reach
• Shannon Haymond, PhD, DABCC FACB, Vice Chair for Computational Pathology
  Director, Mass Spectrometry, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
  Associate Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Kathryn Hyer, JD, iBIO PROPEL co-lead, Chief Business Office, Diagnostic Photonics, Inc.
• Kapila Viges, Senior Associate, Illinois Ventures

The teams and technologies that made it to the final 3 are:

(link this logo to www.ativamedical.com)

Ativa has developed a revolutionary fluid processing engine that allows it’s MicroLAB to perform the full analytical processes utilized in large lab blood analyzers entirely on a low-cost disposable card. The significance of this breakthrough is that it enables the major test panels that form the backbone of blood testing to be performed by medical staff at the point of care. Clinics will be able to do real-time testing themselves rather than waiting for a day or more for the traditional blood send-out process.  Also, this technology can be integrated with, and significantly expand the reach of, AI-based medicine, telemedicine and retail clinics.

(link this logo to https://www.gna-bio.com/)

GNA Biosolutions has created a platform technology, Pulse Controlled Amplification (PCA), which enables 1,000,000 times faster temperature ramps in nucleic acid amplification. Faster temperature ramps allow amplification reaction times that are at least 10 times faster than conventional methods. Furthermore, PCA makes it possible to process clinical samples without additional DNA purification and extraction steps. Dangerous pathogens can be detected by PCA in non-traditional testing environments within minutes, with the sensitivity and specificity of laboratory-based molecular diagnostics. GNA Biosolutions is developing a PCA-powered ultrafast, portable and inexpensive, integrated sample-to-result system for infectious disease testing at the Point of Care (POC).

(link this logo to twoporeguys.com)

2PG is developing a small (6 in x 6 in) diagnostic device that allows the detection of any molecule of interest, including nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites, drugs, and small molecules. The technology employs solid-state nanopores that allow single molecule counting using purely electrical sensing, obviating the need for optics, chemistries, or electrochemical sensors. 2PG will present data from assays that showcase the strength of the nanopore as a sensor, including SNP quantitation, trait zygosity (plants), circulating tumor DNA detection (i.e. liquid biopsy), and early detection of autoimmune disease (T1D) and bacterial infection (MTB).

Congratulations to all of AACC’s Disruptive Technology Award Semifinalists

A special mention and congratulations to the following semifinalists for making it to the top 7. Stop by and learn more about their technology at this Monday afternoon session.

(link this logo to www.brevitest.com)

Brevitest has developed a point-of-care analyzer capable of accurately performing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which are one of the commonest lab tests performed. The analyzer unit is a compact, portable, and easy-to-use device which runs ELISA assays on interchangeable cartridges inserted into the machine. It is designed to meet the requirements for CLIA waiver from the FDA, which would allow use outside of certified labs. While initial focus markets include physician office laboratories, the technology also has the potential for use in diverse other areas where a fast, portable, quick and user-friendly method is required. 

(link this logo to http://druleylab.wustl.edu/)

A growing amount of disease-related biology is being attributed to clonal diversity in model systems, cell cultures or actual patient samples. However, standard next-generation sequencing (NGS) has an inherent error rate of approximately 1%, preventing quantitative detection of true mutations below 2%, regardless of sequencing depth. Error-corrected sequencing (ECS) offers a straightforward “plug-and-play” platform with Illumina library preparation for computationally removing systematic errors created by NGS. ECS can be integrated with RNA for absolute quantification of lowly expressed transcripts without the need to normalize against housekeeping genes, which enables quantitative analysis of allele-specific expression for SNVs and small indels. The technology has been licensed by Canopy Biosciences, Inc. https://canopybiosciences.com/

(link this logo to www.midiagnostics.com)

miDiagnostics develops a new generation of rapid, capillary blood-based point-of-need diagnostic platform, centered around a silicon nanofluidic processor. The precision of silicon-based technology allows to implement assays with fully automated sample (pre-)processing, while offering lab-quality results. This will improve clinical decision-making by providing accurate results within the context of the healthcare professional-patient interaction in a sample-in to results-out fashion. In addition, it does not require a laboratory environment or trained operators, hereby enabling home and patient self-testing. The platform will produce results based on cytology, molecular diagnostic, clinical chemistry and immunoassays, or a combination of these.

(link this logo to http://www.promise-proteomics.com)

PROMISE Proteomics produces stable isotope labelled proteins for scientists performing quantitative LC-MS on proteins and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to improve the robustness of their workflows. For healthcare professionals and clinical labs requiring improvement of therapeutic mAb administration to assess toxicity and patient survival, PROMISE provides proprietary solutions combining internal standards, generic sample preparation and LC-MS. Unlike immunoassay, they are compatible with any mAb mono-or combination therapy.  The first published data underlines the technology's robustness and offers added value compared to existing options. PROMISE's solution using LC-MS expertise represents a driver for improving treatment and a step towards personalized medicine.

And THANK YOU to all the applicants who submitted their technology to this competition. We wish you All the Best and invite you to apply to other events like this in the future.