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

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.

The RADx initiative was launched in April 2020 to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing. The RADx initiative partners with federal agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, Department of Defense, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The initiative has four programs: RADx Tech, RADx Advanced Technology Platforms, RADx Underserved Populations, and RADx Radical. In an April 2021 NIH news release that described the program he leads, Bruce Tromberg, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering said, "NIH's RADx Tech program has turbocharged the development, scale-up, and deployment of powerful testing platforms. Accessible screening and surveillance testing will continue to help the community manage COVID while providing essential new capabilities for responding to future pathogens, variants, and other diseases."

About University of Kansas and MBArC

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. The university's mission is to lift students and society by educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world. The KU News Service is the central public relations office for the Lawrence campus. For more information, please visit www.ku.edu. 

The Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Consortium (MBArC) was established in 2019 as a 4-year, $3.9 million partnership between the University of Missouri, Columbia (lead)/ University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), Kansas City and the National Institutes of Health Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (NIH REACH). The goal of MBArC is to provide funding, training, and education to academic researchers to accelerate the transition of discoveries originating from research labs into products that National Institutes of Health, under Grant No. U01HL152410. For more information, please visit www.medicine.missouri.edu/offices-programs/midwest-biomedical-accelerator-consortium.

About BioFluidica

BioFluidica is a privately held biotechnology company that has developed a revolutionary liquid biopsy platform. The Biofluidica platform can precisely capture and isolate disease biomarkers. LiquidScan is designed to capture three important biomarkers (rare cells, exosomes and cfDNA) as well as infectious disease agents on one fully automated instrumentation platform. Their ability to scan blood for the first signs of a disease, finding the rarest biomarkers with unmatched sensitivity, means fulfilling the promise of a true liquid biopsy. For more information please visit https://www.biofluidica.com/ 

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SOURCE BioFluidica, Inc.