NEW YORK (360Dx) – MiDiagnostics said recently that it has received a €1.7 million ($2.2 million) grant from VLAIO, the Flemish agency for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The firm said that it will use the funds to investigate and develop an inexpensive disposable test card with an integrated silicon chip for a complete-blood-count test, the first application of its technology.
Over 18 months, the project aims to enable research into solutions that lead to robust integration of a silicon chip with a low-cost, plastic microfluidic backbone.
Nicolas Vergauwe, CEO of MiDiagnostics, said in a statement that the grant "validates our approach to translate a radical new diagnostic concept and technology into products of high commercial and clinical value."
The firm said that it is developing technology for rapid and inexpensive diagnostic testing for near-patient applications to address medical questions without the need to rely on a complex laboratory infrastructure. Its core technology is based on a silicon chip that executes different operations at the microscale level.
The technology precisely controls fluids inside a silicon chip without the need for external fluid actuation, the firm said. That allows it to detect cells; proteins; nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA; and small molecules. The silicon chip is integrated into a disposable test card onto which a minimally invasive sample, such as a drop of blood, is deposited. The test card is inserted into a reader to collect data.
Leuven, Belgium-based MiDiagnostics said its objective is to offer diagnostic solutions that "go beyond what is currently available as point-of-care testing" and provide lab-quality results for a variety of medical conditions.