Sonorapy

We are going to make a portable diagnostic platform to quickly self-perform testing for any pathogens/ biological threat agent in real-time, before symptoms appear, in the field.

Biological threats, large-scale epidemic and outbreaks are a growing concern, driving the need for small, rugged, and easy to use diagnostic devices that can rapidly indicate positive or negative results to infectious disease exposure. Currently it takes a trip to a lab and days to receive diagnostic results.

Infections by different biological agents may begin with the same flu-like symptoms but have very different outcomes. Effective treatment requires correct early diagnosis and pathogen identification.

Sonorapy device would provide lab-quality pathogen diagnostics in the field in real-time. Reliable diagnosis in a shorter time frame translates into a faster response and more effective treatment.

Identifying the agent responsible for an infection or disease is not always easy, especially when the symptoms could indicate a number of different pathogens. This means that sometimes a variety of different specimens need to be taken, such as tubes of blood, swabs or urine samples, all of which then need to be subjected to different tests. But if the virus or bacterium, is not on the list of suspects, doctors are unlikely to identify it because many tests are very specific. Of course, none of us will ever forget the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014. As of 2016, the WHO and respective governments reported a total of 28,646 suspected cases and 11,323 deaths (39.5%), though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak.

Apart from its terrible human cost, Ebola also had a devastating economic impact. The IMF reduced its growth projections for sub-Saharan Africa by 10%. Commodity prices plunged, while unemployment and fiscal deficits rose.

Outbreaks are inevitable, but epidemics are preventable. And it starts with better diagnostics.  

Three main conditions can collide to start an outbreak that spreads rapidly across entire regions. Communities affected by humanitarian emergencies like natural disasters or conflict are at particularly high risk.

During natural disasters like floods or cyclones, children and families face many dangers including injuries, separation and death. But they are also at high risk of disease.

Rains and floods create ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed and spread diseases like malaria, dengue and yellow fever.  

Heavy rainfall can also contaminate water supplies, spreading cholera and diarrhoea.

Contaminated water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene also lead to disease outbreaks.  Millions of displaced children and families in temporary settlements live under these circumstances every day.

When communities already suffer from disease or a weakened immune systems, epidemics are more likely to emerge as disasters strike.

Young children are particularly vulnerable – their immune systems are not yet fully developed. And the risk increases when they’re malnourished. Without enough proper nutrition, a child’s immunity is low, leaving them at higher risk of disease and five times more likely to die from diarrhoea. 

Sonorapy device would provide lab-quality pathogen diagnostics in the field in real-time. This means field personnel can quickly and locally detect whether they have come into contact with diseases such as anthrax, Ebola, malaria, dengue fever or influenza. 

Sonorapy technology is based on a one-of-a-kind sensor that emits gigahertz-to-terahertz sound waves to detect viruses by measurement of their resonant signatures. Each species of pathogen carries a unique “sonic” signature that differentiates it from other organisms. The device’s receiver captures high frequency acoustic signals and measures the resistance from the sound waves as compared to normal range. The data is then fed into an algorithm that checks against a pre-defined database. Detection of a specific harmonic resonance peak indicates a specific foreign body pathogen. An easy to read positive or negative test result is then displayed in real-time. 

Sonorapy 's real-time pathogens detector would allow simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens at once without requiring reagents or relying on biomarkers unlike existing technologies that are mostly based on chemical analysis which are costly, invasive, time-consuming, not always accurate and often requiring causative agent. 

Sonorapy uses “physics” & relies on acoustics to provide a solution that is more rapid, accurate and cost effective: 

- Speed: one test for virtually any pathogens, in real-time. Ability to detect viruses before symptoms appear regardless of incubation period. 

- Accuracy: more accurate, remove the risks of false positive. Non-invasive alternative to chemical blood testing, reduce risk of sample contamination. 

- Cost: No need for reagents or special chemical consumables decreasing considerably the logistic burden and costs. 

Our idea is unconventional because testing for foreign body pathogens is dependent in many cases on the immune response of the host not the actual presence of the pathogen. We are focused on using the lessons learned in aerospace to break that paradigm and detect the structures of the pathogens themselves.

Some of the priorities outlined in this competition include infectious disease outcomes, disease surveillance, and research for the development of new vaccines, and diagnostics which our device could help address. A hyper sensitive diagnostic tool would transfer the data in real-time data and help better understand epidemiological patterns of infection. This can help lead to better surveillance strategies. A real-time pathogens detector would allow simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens at once without requiring reagents or relying on biomarkers unlike existing technologies that are mostly based on chemical analysis which are costly, invasive, time-consuming, not always accurate and often requiring causative agent.

Our device would be based on a one-of-a-kind sensor that emits gigahertz-to-terahertz sound waves to detect viruses by measurement of their resonant signatures. Each species of pathogen carries a unique “sonic” signature that differentiates it from other organisms. . The data is then fed into an algorithm that checks against a pre-defined database. Detection of a specific harmonic resonance peak indicates a specific foreign body pathogen. An easy to read positive or negative test result is then displayed in real-time. >span class="hardreadability">Reliable diagnosis in a shorter time frame translates into a faster response and more effective treatment.

Our POC consists of 2 Phases -

Phase 1 - Identify the following data points:

● Frequency range to excite the particles to a harmonic resonance state

● Expected phase shifts and resonance peaks used to inform the empirical results

● Hardware requirements to excite the bodies

● Any non-linear effects not foreseen in the modeling

Phase 2 - design and create the specialized components required for a device capable of exciting and detecting foreign body pathogens in the 20-1,400 nanometer range.

Our hypothesis is that by exciting an aqueous sample with varied acoustic frequencies and amplitudes, it is possible to determine the presence of foreign body pathogens directly by analysis of the acoustic shift and signature found during harmonic resonance. We expect to succeed because thanks to the recent emergence of machine and deep learning, we now have the ability to engineer biology and our founding team, which is cross-trained in biology, computer sciences and engineering, has the deep expertise needed to build the next-generation rapid and automated system for pathogen diagnosis and execute our vision.

None. Still on POC/prototype development phase.

Our GTM strategy is to establish partnerships with innovative diagnostic platform providers and research universities.

Over the next five years, we plan on marketing our technology to the Pandemic and Biodefense industries initially, in organizations such as: - United States biological defense program.- U.S Department of Defense (DoD)- DARPA- United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency- U.S Postal Service- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Funding: Main barrier is funding to develop our prototype and continue R&D. $100K would enable us to cover the material cost to develop the prototype device.$1M seed to be used for device fine turning in a research lab suitable for handling of infectious agents

Technical challenges include: Variability of virus signature, resolution/ size of the virus detectable, signal to noise ratio , viability of the approach / acoustic wave

Legal and Regulatory Matters

Funding - Applying for grants

Technical challenges: Finding the correct frequency might be a trial and error process due to the extraneous structures attached to the exterior capsid of the virons. Our plan is to define the requirements from each subsystem and then do the "final" tuning to identify the losses of the systems to ensure we have sufficient SNR.

Our experimental plan includes the simulation of the experiment using a physics tool such as Comsol, and the construction of a macro scale proof of concept to validate the data and assumptions.

Legal and Regulatory Matters - Clinical trials and FDA approval process - 2-3 years for trials, FDA approval: 9 months process IF 510(k) premarket submission is granted. If not, 7 yrs process.

4 part -time

1 contractor

Noemie and Robert have known each other for 10 years. Prior to founding Sonorapy, Noemie worked in a leading consulting firm in NYC. She has the finance background and business acumen to lead the business side.

Robert and Jon have known each other for 5 years while working with cutting edge technologies at Northrop Grumman where they both held SSI Security clearances which give us a unique edge to solve this problem.

Robert led the innovation lab at Northrop and is responsible for design engineering, validation testing, prototyping and manufacturing. 

Jon Linch is well versed in aeroacoustics and aerodynamics and is responsible for developing the technique to merge sound waves together in order to emit and receive the precise required frequency necessary to capture the sonic signatures data in an effective and accurate way.

Our founding team, which is cross-trained in biology, computer sciences and engineering, has the deep expertise needed to build our automated system for pathogen diagnosis and execute our vision.  

We have started the process to engage in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Sandia National Laboratories which is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy. 

CRADA permits the transfer of National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia technologies, processes, research and development capabilities, and technical know-how to the private sector and foster mutually beneficial partnerships to facilitate cutting-edge research and development for ultimate commercialization.

We are partnering with Darren W. Branch, Ph.D.,Sandia Manager of Nano and Micro Sensors Dept.

Sandia’s acoustic technologies and capabilities include chemical/biological sensing, transducer simulation and design, photoacoustics, acoustic particle manipulation, acoustic lysis and focusing, RF filters, and specialized measurements. 

Darren has similar pursuits using acoustic resonance and recently finished work using acoustic resonance for a biological application. 

We plan on marketing our technology to the Pandemic and Biodefense industries initially, and 

specifically to the following organizations: 
- United States biological defense program and other country’s biowarfare defense (BWD) programs.
- U.S Department of Defense (DoD)
- DARPA
- United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency
- U.S Postal Services
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Next, we have identified a number of near future targets in the Agritech industry for seed purity detection and in Pathology and Clinical research industries. 
Our initial revenue model is simple: we sell the device for a one-time fee and charge a subscription fee 
for ongoing device support and updated data on evolving pathogen. 

Initially, we hope to fund our development using R&D grants, then VC funding till we reach commercialization.

With our planned business model, we are projected to break even by Year 4.

The user acquisition strategy will differ depending on the industry we target. For our initial target –
Biodefense – we plan on taking advantage of our team’s background and network in the defense industry to reach key decision makers at DARPA and at the DoD. 

We are taking on an ambitious mission and MIT’s reach, resources and relationships can speed up our journey.

MIT physics department and lab ressources. 

we would use the prize to conduct an experimental plan/pilot to test our solution.