Finding rare cells in blood, &
Wider reach for leukemia/lymphoma diagnosis
The sophisticated laboratory system known as the flow cytometer has been instrumental in sub-typing leukemia and lymphoma, personalizing treatment, and driving up adult survival rates from 15% to almost 80%; and for children even higher. But, these are not worldwide statistics, and leukemia/lymphoma is a uniform global problem, where there are 600,000 new cases each year. Most of these cases face survival rates of only 5% to 20%. Many have reasoned that the complex flow cytometer cannot be re-assigned to these areas and a new technical solution is needed. This project team is creating an optical technique that can be deployed on much simpler systems (such as the system developed in the initial project) to achieve this solution.
Contact
Project sector
In Vitro diagnostics, Medical devices
Project status
M+Visión project: Jan 2012 – Jun 2014
On exit from M+Visión: Seeking support
M+Visión follow on project: Oct 2014 – Sep 2015
Fellows
Shivang Dave, Germán González Serrano (original team)
Luca Giancardo (joined 2013)
Jason Tucker-Schwartz, Judith Birkenfeld (joined 2014)
Collaborators
Mertxe Mercedes Alonso, Maria Isabel Pacheco, David Omos
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO)
Susana Burromeo, Norberto Malpica, Alfonso de Lara-Rubio, Esteban Pardo
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC)
Conor Evans, Tim Padera
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Peter Hansen
Point Care Technologies, Inc
Gaurav Sood, Simon Abou-Antoun, Greg Sussott, Daniel Luk
IE Business School, Madrid
“Preparation of large and uniform cell monolayers for imaging applications”. Shivang Dave, Alfonso De Lara Rubio, Susana Borromeo, Norberto Malpica, German Gonzalez Serrano, Cyto 2015 Conference – oral presentation (accepted, June 2015).
Disclosures
Method to Pattern Cells (Crude Blood) on a (Planar) Surface (MIT15262),
The Use of Microparticle Additives to Simultaneously Enable Artifact-Free Image Registration and Auto-Focusing in Microscopy (MIT16551)
Substrate Pre-Scanning for High Throughput Microscopy (MIT16849)
Patents
Deposition And Imaging Of Particles On Planar Substrates (MIT15262)
Patent Cooperation Treaty Serial No. PCT/US2014/028193, Filed March 14, 2014
The Use Of Microparticle Additives To Simultaneously Enable Artifact-Free Image Registration And Auto-Focusing In Microscopy (MIT16551)
United States of America Serial No. 61/976114, Filed April 7, 2014
Licensing
A commercial partner in Spain has come forth, and a business structure is in sight. Expected to be finalized in April 2015
Mass Challenge 2014 – finalist
IE Business School Venture Day 2012 – 1st prize, offline business category
Invitation to US Embassy (Madrid) for round-table discussion on entrepreneurship
MIT Sloan i-Teams 2014 participant
Team Cell began in 2012 with a different focus. Blood cell analyses provide a window into your health status. Blood contains an abundance of red and white blood cells which are readily analyzed by a variety of existing technologies. However, blood also may contain a few cells released into the blood stream by other parts of the body, for instance by cancers or a fetus. These cells have the potential provide valuable information but are very rare and difficult to detect and analyze with current technologies because they rely on methods to concentrate or capture them prior to detection. Team Cell has created a novel technology that avoids these problems and thus potentially enables the analysis of cells that occur in whole blood at rates of 1 cell per billion.
Media and updates
On October 23, 2014, Team Cell pitched at a FENIN (Federación Española de Empresas de Tecnología Sanitaria,) ‘In Vitro Diagnostics” event in Barcelona:
On November 15, 2012, Team Cell won the top prize in the offline business category in the IE Business School Venture Days business plan competition. As the winning team (which includes collaborators from IE), Team Cell wins venture funding, expert counseling, and incubator space in Madrid. Pictured, starting second from left, are Gaurav Sood (IE Business School), Germán Gonzalez (M+Visión), Simon Abou-Antoun (IE Business School), Shivang Dave (M+Visión), and Greg Sussott (IE Business School).
For more information, please visit the Venture Days page +