The Challenge
SpinDiag addresses the challenge of patients who introduce drug-resistant bacteria into hospitals. Other patients may get infected, who are then hard or impossible to treat.
Drug-resistant bacteria are on the rise
Drug-resistant bacteria are a global threat with millions of infections worldwide and tens of thousands unnecessary, tragic deaths. Various “killer-bugs” such as MRSA or Carbapenemase Producers no longer can be treated with common antibiotics.
Lack of rapid diagnostic tools
Conventional diagnostics usually require several days and thus do not allow for rapid, informed decisions. This in turn increases the risk for all patients because of the delay in a key decision: isolate or not?
The dilemma of not knowing
Because of the long wait for test results, the dilemma of not knowing crucial facts quickly, hospitals are not able to preemptively isolate all risk patients, and this can lead to outbreaks. In addition, many of the preemptively isolated risk patients after a long wait for test results turn out to be negative, and this imposes an unnecessary financial risk for hospitals.
The solution
SpinDiag will provide its rapid point-of-care screening system - SpinDiag one - to test all risk patients for all relevant drug-resistances at an affordable price. This allows doctors to make an informed decision - to isolate or not - on the spot.
Fast
SpinDiag one will rapidly detect drug-resistant bacteria within 30 minutes, directly from patient samples, with an easy and routine-compatible workflow. This allows screening of patients during their admission to the hospital, by the nurse on the ward, to save additional time.
BROAD
SpinDiag one will enable the parallel identification of the 25 most prevalent drug resistances in bacterial pathogens, such as MRSA, VRE and Carbapenemase Producers. Only then the required broad basis for an informed isolation decision is available.
AFFORDABLE
For the many risk patients who require screening, SpinDiag will provide SpinDiag one, as a small and portable processing device, one with a competitive price and inexpensive disposable cartridges for diagnostics. By avoiding preemptive isolations and outbreaks, because of broad screening with SpinDiag one, hospitals will not only increase patient safety but also save costs.
How it works
SpinDiag one can be operated with an easy to use and routine-compatible workflow by a nurse. Test results are directly transferred into the patient record.
SWR2: Mini-Lab gegen resistente Keime (audio)
SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg: 11:44 min:ss (video)
The patented centrifugal-microfluidic test system rapidly provides laboratory-grade PCR results directly from standard patient swab samples. SpinDiag works with your standard Copan ESwab® and allows culture confirmation or other lab tests without the necessity to take a second sample. The complete workflow is fully automated and suitable for operation by ward nurses. It features an ultrafast and highly-sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Who we are
The SpinDiag GmbH was spun-off from the research institute Hahn-Schickard in 2016 by a team of six experienced colleagues and is currently financed in a seed round.
The founder team (from left to right): Dominique Kosse, Dr. Daniel Mark, Dr. Oliver Strohmeier, Dr. Gregor Czilwik, Dr. Frank Schwemmer, and Dr. Mark Keller. They worked together at several industrial R&D projects at Hahn-Schickard for more than seven years. The seasoned serial start-up entrepreneur Dr. Michael Lauk completes the team. The following advisors with more than 30 years business experience in the diagnostic market supplement the team.
Prof. Dr. Roland Zengerle, Professor at University of Freiburg
PD Dr. Felix von Stetten, Hahn-Schickard
Dr. Hendrik Hüdig, former head of R&D at Roche Diagnostics
Dr. Norbert Oranth, former head of System Technologies at Roche
Manfred Augstein, CEO velixX GmbH
Dr. Thomas Keiser, Business Consulting for the Healthcare Market
Dr. Pierre Bogaerts, CHU UCL Namur - Site Godinne, Head of Molecular diagnostics Laboratory & Head of National Reference Center (NRC), Belgium
