SBIR Phase I: Next-Gen Portable Bio-Chip for Rapid and Accurate Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Award ID: 2537614

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project lies in creating an affordable, portable, easy-use technology that can diagnose lung cancer at its earliest stages, when treatment is most effective. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, largely because it has minimum symptoms until it reaches a late stage. By enabling early and accurate detection in a non-invasive, easy-access, and low-cost manner, this project has the potential to greatly improve survival rates, reduce the financial burden on families, and lower national healthcare costs. The diagnosis chip can be broadly adapted to other cancers and diseases that lack reliable early detection methods, such as pancreatic cancer, as well as conditions like neurodegenerative diseases and infections. Overall, the capability could transform current medical diagnostics by providing accessible, affordable, and painless screening that benefits patients, healthcare providers, and society at large. The anticipated commercial opportunities are substantial, with potential to establish new markets in point-of-care diagnostics and strengthen U.S. leadership in healthcare innovation. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to design and validate a compact chip-based platform capable of detecting lung cancer biomarkers in body fluids such as blood serum with high sensitivity and speed. The research efforts will focus on developing an innovative nanoscale sensing element that can recognize disease signals at extremely low concentrations in a rapid, sensitive, and reliable fashion. Key performance metrics, such as accuracy, sensitivity, and reproducibility, will be benchmarked with state-of-the-art technologies. Once successful, this work will establish a solid technical foundation for a fully functional prototype capable of detecting clinically relevant low-concentration biomarkers in body fluids, suitable for integration into a regular doctor office visit. The project will also expand the scientific basis for next-generation diagnostic platforms with broad applications in cancer and other major diseases. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Henry Ahn