Wisconsin startup Isomark has developed a breath-based test that can detect infection within two hours of its onset. The patented concept has wide-reaching applications – for instance, it’s proposed developing a smart neonatal incubator that’s constantly checking a preemie’s breath for signs of sepsis.
The company has received $2.2 million now in NIH-backed SBIR grants; the device is in the midst of a 110-patient trial at the University of Wisconsin. Read more about its technology here.
The general idea, however, is that by using the non-invasive measurement of breath-based biomarkers, patients could be diagnosed and treated much quicker than if they wait for a lab’s results of, say, a blood test. The uses for Isomark’s test include initial disease detection in a clinic and other outpatient medical services, and importantly, post-op monitoring of patients who could contract hospital-acquired infections like sepsis.
