LightDeck Diagnostics, the company leveraging planar waveguide technology to deliver lab-quality diagnostics in minutes, today received a $2M contract from HJF, as funded by the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) and the Department of Defense (DoD). 

The funds will be used to develop a rapid, quantitative, multiplexed test for C-reactive proteins (CRP), inducible-proteins 10 (IP-10 or CXCL-10), and other inflammatory markers, which are known as cytokines and chemokines. The LightDeck® Analyzer’s inflammation panel is expected to help healthcare providers determine the status of a patient’s health and the severity of their condition. The results could inform triage and treatment decisions on-site and in real-time, potentially making a significant difference in patient outcomes. 

Inflammation plays a critical role across all diseases, from infectious diseases like COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses to diseases like cancer. In COVID-19, the body triggers an inflammatory response that produces proteins including CRP and IP-10 or CXCL-10, which are markedly elevated in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Preliminary data LightDeck gathered in conjunction with HJF suggest that panels including CRP and IP-10 biomarkers may have utility in predicting the hospitalization risk of COVID-19 patients.  

Find out more in the LightDeck Diagnostics press release.