Luminostics, Inc., to receive $10,000 cash prize and recognition from the rapid point-of-care diagnostics industry
Luminostics, Inc., to receive $10,000 cash prize and recognition from the rapid point-of-care diagnostics industry
October 30, 2019
CARLSBAD, Calif.—DCN Dx and Qiagen Lake Constance, hosts of the Advanced Lateral Flow Course, are pleased to announce that Luminostics, Inc. is the winner of the 2019 Rapid Testing Innovation Award.
This is the second year the award has been given. It recognizes the best innovation in rapid point-of-care assays or the most creative application for rapid assays during the past year. The award, which includes a cash prize of $10,000, was presented at the 2019 Advanced Lateral Flow Course on October 24 in San Diego.
Luminostics, Inc. is a Y Combinator- and Khosla Ventures-backed startup based in San Jose, Calif., that has developed a smartphone-based platform for rapid diagnostics in home and point-of-care settings. The platform enables the ultrasensitive detection or quantitation of bacteria, viruses, small molecules, hormones, and proteins from a variety of sample types in minutes. Luminostics’ technology is based on the first-ever use of persistent luminescent nanomaterials as lateral flow assay labels, which enables 100- to 1,000-fold lower detection limits compared to visual lateral flow using only a consumer smartphone’s built-in optics and a low-cost plastic adapter as the reader device.
“We’re happy to have our technology platform and progress recognized through this award,” said Bala Raja, the CEO and co-founder of Luminostics, Inc. “Our team has worked hard to prove our platform’s high sensitivity and clinical validity by developing and field-testing shelf-stable, scale-ready assays for bacterial STD detection. We’re now actively looking to co-develop products with partners and license our technology for applications that could leverage a high-sensitivity, low-cost, and smartphone-based lateral flow platform. Winning this award will make a lot more people in the diagnostics industry aware of us and has already given us a few promising leads.”
“Luminostics’ technology has the potential to help a lot of people,” said Brendan O’Farrell, Ph.D., President at DCN Dx, one of the event’s co-hosts. “The company’s technology could revolutionize at-home testing. I’m happy the ALFC was able to recognize their work and give them a platform for more recognition throughout the industry. We look forward to seeing them grow.”
O’Farrell added that the competition this year was fierce: “Every one of our nominees has a lot of potential for impact,” he said, “not just in the industry but on people’s lives.”
The Rapid Testing Innovation Award incentivizes creativity and entrepreneurship to positively impact human health; veterinary or environmental testing; biological, chemical or radiological defense; pharmaceutical manufacturing; food safety; and any other challenge that could be improved with rapid diagnostics.
The Advanced Lateral Flow Course and its Rapid Testing Innovation Award are co-hosted and sponsored by DCN Dx and QIAGEN Lake Constance GmbH, a subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V.
Since its founding more than 12 years ago, DCN Dx has been committed to furthering the rapid diagnostic test market through the continued evolution of technologies and applications related to lateral flow assays. For more information about DCN Dx, visit dcndx.com.
QIAGEN Lake Constance GmbH, a subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V., develops and produces innovative optical measuring instruments and detection units for the fields of biotechnology, medical technology, diagnostics, veterinary, environment and industry. The easy to use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products enable our customers to develop their final product, either a lateral flow technology or a nucleic acid-based / isothermal amplification assays device. The OEM product range includes the development and production of portable instruments for point-of-need testing. QIAGEN Lake Constance GmbH cooperates internationally with various institutes and research facilities with an additional focus on the system integration of microfluidic test formats.
For more information contact:
John L. Tonkinson, Ph.D., Chief Business Development Officer
DCN Dx
Main: +1-760-804-3886 | Mobile: +1-860-977-4012
jtonkinson@dcndx.com
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