BioFluidica Extends NIH Award through the Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Research Consortium for an At-Home Device Using Breakthrough Technology in the Fight Against COVID-19

BioFluidica LiquidScan Next-Generation Testing Platform, Can Detect Diseases in 15 Minutes

Excerpt from the Press Release:

SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — BioFluidica, a privately held biotechnology company, today announced they have been awarded a continuation grant from the Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Research Consortium (MBArC) on behalf of the National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx Tech) program. The grant is to continue support for development of the BioFluidica liquid biopsy platform, LiquidScan™ in a handheld device. Development of the handheld device is on-track from the original grant. Initially, the “at-home” handheld device is for the rapid and precise testing for COVID-19 with a sensitivity of qPCR and the speed of an antigen test using microfluidics-based detection methods.  

The automated laboratory benchtop version of BioFluidica LiquidScan™ is presently in commercialization and will first be exhibited at the upcoming AACR 2022 conference April 8-13 in New Orleans, LA.  LiquidScan is a novel platform to aid in diagnostic testing that can be applied to many diseases, including cancer types, prenatal diagnostics, stroke, and infectious diseases. LiquidScan isolates and enhances from whole blood most categories of biomarkers. Whereas a CT or MRI scan surveys the whole body to detect diseases, LiquidScan can search a blood sample for rare biomarkers in the bloodstream, such as circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, exosomes and infectious disease agents. The platform, expanded to use saliva samples, can be used for point-of-care testing in hospitals, CLIA labs, research institutes, and now in the comfort of home with the handheld device

“A self-administered rapid test produces confidential results at home and in minutes, while laboratory tests take longer and at increased cost,” said Steven A. Soper, Ph.D., co-founder of Biofluidica, Kansas University’s Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering, and director of the Center for BioModular Multi-scale Systems for Precision Medicine. “The hope is that easier access to tests and faster, accurate test results will make frequent testing more desirable and encourage people to protect themselves and others in the community.”

For COVID-19 testing, as well as other infectious diseases, BioFluidica LiquidScan generates results in 15 minutes, does not require cold storage of sample, and enables improved commercial and home diagnostics at lower costs. The leap in technological advantages provided by BioFluidica LiquidScan was made possible by developing a patented microfluidic chip. This chip offers efficient capture, release, enumeration, and molecular analysis of viral particles, such as SARS-CoV-2. The BioFluidica technology allows high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing, which results in low test costs that can be readily covered by insurance and is suitable for large-scale screening.

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