Human Practices

In the early ideation phase, we spoke with Adam Howes, who had experience working on sepsis projects. He recommended exploring organizations like Charity Entrepreneurship, which focus on identifying neglected areas for effective solutions. This conversation sparked the creation of our project concept, SepScan, as we began exploring neglected medical areas that could benefit from innovative diagnostics.

In order to evaluate the need and feasibility of our diagnostic tool, and to narrow down our biomarker selection we met with Mervyn Singer, a professor of intensive care at UCL and former co-chair of the Sepsis-3 Definitions International Task Force. Our team was focusing on diagnosing sepsis broadly, using a range of different sepsis biomarkers. Prof. Mervyn Singer played a critical role in refining our biomarker selection. He highlighted the limitations of our original choices (CRP, PCT, IL-6, CD64) for diagnosing sepsis, suggesting a more specific biomarker—sTREM-1—due to its minimal presence in non-septic patients. As we began researching sTREM-1we began to consider a focus on urosepsis.

In our follow-up interview Mervyn Singer challenged us on our unique selling point, particularly considering the role of Cys C. He also introduced to us the concepts of prognosis diagnosis, theranosis.

Dr. Inderpreet Kaur Bal-Deol was chosen for her experience in internal medicine, particularly in handling patients with a high risk of infections like sepsis. Her feedback highlighted that sepsis treatment often begins based on clinical suspicion rather than waiting for test results, reinforcing the need to shift our focus from diagnosis to prevention. Her insights directly influenced the project's redirection towards predicting the progression of UTIs to urosepsis. Her knowledge in internal medicine was also leveraged into understanding the benefits of looking into cystatin c detection in general thus, helping us understand the relevance of our research.

We decided to conduct a follow-up interview with Dr. Inderpreet Kaur Bal- Deol in order to assess if the new focus was a better idea. In the second interview, the clinician expressed support for the project's direction, particularly the development of a faster assay or test for Cystatin C, a marker specific to kidney function. The current Cystatin C test is significantly more expensive than the current Creatinine test and takes several days to return results because only a few labs run them. A faster, in-house test for Cystatin C could significantly benefit clinical practice and be cost-effective, potentially leading to widespread use.

Dr. Parminder Deol provided a valuable external perspective from his experience in clinical settings in India, offering a broad view of healthcare challenges, particularly in resource-limited settings. His insights on the scalability and usability of the test, especially in rural India, helped us understand the logistical and economic barriers to implementing our POC test. His feedback also emphasized the importance of tailoring the test for specific populations, such as the elderly or immunocompromised, to maximize its impact in high-risk groups.

He acknowledged the possibility of using the test at home but emphasized that its effectiveness would depend on factors such as cost and user-friendliness. The involvement of electronics may pose a challenge for older individuals who are not technologically adept, making hospital settings a more practical application. In low-resource settings, he pointed out the requirement for a phone or a pre-installed app to provide a readout. He stressed the importance of proper documentation and assistance, particularly if the person administering the test is disoriented. He suggested that an ideal solution would be an app that could automatically notify a clinician or flag emergency services if necessary. However, he noted that by the time such measures are needed, the patient is often already in the hospital.

He also mentioned that Cystatin C levels rise early, before the onset of urosepsis, indicating that this marker could be used to predict the likelihood of urosepsis early in a UTI case, potentially preventing the condition from becoming critical. Regarding product-market fit, he advised focusing on labs and pathologists as key stakeholders, particularly in the Indian context.

Through our fundraising and entrepreneurship activities, we reached Will Saunter. Will Saunter advised us on commercialization and agreed to join our advisory board. Through our conversation we secured sponsorship for our project through BlueDot Impact’s BioSecurity Fundamentals initiative, providing both financial and strategic support.

We interviewed Mark Ong for his expertise in diagnostics and pathology, particularly in assessing the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tools. His insights into the UK’s healthcare system and diagnostic workflows helped us fine-tune the test’s applicability, identifying patient groups that could benefit most from early detection of UTI progression. His feedback also helped shape our understanding of how this test could be integrated into clinical practice and which settings would be most suitable for its use.

Additionally, they pointed out that the test could be particularly valuable in resource-poor areas, such as in India, where patients may not be able to return for follow-up visits. In these settings, the test could help rule out the possibility of disease progression during the initial visit, making it a potentially life-saving tool.

We reached out to Protein Tech, in hopes to receive logistics support. Thus, we meant Lauren Lowe, with whom we had conversations regarding the gender inequity in diagnostics and healthcare. She talked to us about how studies show, that women are often times likely and appropriate treatment for their pain particularly UTI’s, and the societal background of women’s pain often being underestimated and underappreciated. We concluded from the conversation that achieving health equity requires a shift in the systems approach to women’s symptoms. We later aimed to incorporate this into our Women in Stem event.

Following our conversation with Alya Masoud, we reached out to Sara Holland for her guidance regarding the legal aspects of starting a business. She introduced to us the idea of an inventive step and non-obviousness. We discussed the criteria for patentability, and the discussion laid the foundation for our patent strategy and guide.

Anthony Walker, a life sciences consultant, provided guidance on navigating the biotech sector and securing financial support. He recommended we seek more experts in diagnostics, leading us to connect with David Wilson. His firm Alacrita Consulting also provided a monetary gift to support our project.

Our team met Digby, who introduced us to Life Fabs: an open access lab/workshop space, based around an interdisciplinary community allowing cross-pollination of ideas. Our team was interested in this space, and were curious to see if we could collaborate with Life Fabs to support the continuity of our project. Thus our team arranged a visit to their research space.