Seeking funding for an Ebola breath test

Ancon Medical is seeking funding for technology that could screen for Ebola and other diseases, within minutes, through a simple breath test. The company will pursue a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s New Interventions for Global Health program - a part of the Grand Challenges initiative - which awards up to $10 million for technology that can prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Ancon Medical aims to use the grant funding to further develop its Nanoparticle Biomarker Tagging (NBT) device, which is said to provide one of the most sensitive and non-invasive methods to screen for diseases. Funding will also be used to find the Ebola biomarker - the molecular signature that will alert NBT to the presence of the virus - which the researchers believe they could isolate in two months or less.

NBT uses a technique that is similar to ultrafast gas chromatography, a laboratory method for breaking down chemicals through vaporisation. However, current gas chromatography technology is bulky, making it useful only in laboratory settings, and requires hours or days to produce results. NBT is portable and currently delivers results in 15 minutes, with Ancon Medical researchers believing further development can bring the screening time down to three minutes or less.

Prototype of the NBT medical device.

Similar screening technology requires concentrations of up to thousands of molecules to produce a result, whereas NBT can detect samples that are as small as a single molecule. This sensitivity would allow the NBT technology to detect the Ebola virus within 24 to 72 hours of exposure. Furthermore, while other screening methods for Ebola require samples of blood, urine or tissue, NBT can acquire a fast result through a simple breath test.

“An early screening result for a virus like Ebola gives medical responders the time to isolate an individual, conduct further tests and begin treatments if needed,” said Ancon Medical President Wesley Baker. “NBT can be the ultimate weapon that medical professionals need to fight this virus.”

With sufficient funding, Ancon Medical can complete miniaturisation of the technology, allowing it to be used in a variety of settings. The current prototype is about the size of a suitcase, but with further development, it can be reduced to the size of a toaster, complete with a touchscreen display and cloud connectivity that can transmit important data about an array of infectious diseases.

In addition to the Gates Foundation grant, Ancon Medical will pursue other government and private-sector funding opportunities to promote development of NBT technology. The company will also pursue FDA approval for NBT as a screening device, making it possible that NBT could be used in hospitals and other facilities as early as the third quarter of 2016.