Food allergy diagnostics

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Composite blood-based biomarker analysis for accessible, safe and accurate food allergy diagnostics.
About the Technology
Food allergy is a serious, potentially life-threatening immunological response to food that affects over 33 million people in the United States and is increasing in prevalence. Current methods for food allergy diagnosis and assessment rely heavily on directly challenging patients with an allergen, as is the case with the skin prick test (SPT) or the current gold standard, the oral food challenge. Routinely run tests, allergen-specific IgE blood test and the SPT, are widely known to be inaccurate, but, despite this understanding, food allergy diagnostics have not changed for over 50 years.
The basophil activation test (BAT) is a powerful ex vivo blood test for food allergy assessment, widely regarded as “a food challenge in a tube”. However, the complexity of the assay and the difficulty of obtaining fresh venipuncture blood samples in the lab from the clinic have hampered clinical adoption of the BAT. We have developed a microfluidic device and workflow to drastically enhance access to the BAT at the clinic. The HIT Fund will be used for engineering development of our prototypes, and the expertise provided by the HIT Fund advisors will set us on the right path towards commercialization.