Diagnostics startup Miroculus became a bit of a media darling last fall, in part from its TED Talk on bringing inexpensive, rapid-fire cancer diagnostics to the developing world.
The Bay Area startup just raised the first, $2.3 million tranche of a $3.6 million seed round, raised from a mixture of angel and venture investors, CEO Alejandro Tocigl said. Miroculus is giving itself another 90 days to court the remaining $1.3 million.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Over the next 18 months, the company will be laser-focused on clinical validation, Tocigl said. The test turnaround time is 60 minutes, Tocigl said, and needs only a milliliter of blood to run. It can be processed with a smartphone or a computer, which processes the data and computes what sort of tumor profile is associated with the panel.
The company’s platform is based on MicroRNA profiling – with aims of detecting these genetic fragments in the blood or tissue, without the need of a technician or a full suite of costly lab equipment. Each testing panel has “biochemistry that acts like a trap that closes only when the microRNA is present in the sample,” the company says. If a trap closes – meaning the MicroRNA indicative of a tumor or condition is present – the well will shine green.
“There are lots of opportunities for MicroRNA profiling and diagnostics, but we are the only ones doing a very affordable and easy to use way,” Tocigl said.
Embedded in this idea is an open-sourced diagnostics platform, called Miriam, that will ask the community to help grow the database of cancer MicroRNA biomarkers – fleshing out the startup’s diagnostic offerings, at low cost to the end user.