p-BNC, The Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip: Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE Finalist

The McDevitt Research Group, a medical micro device group committed to improving the speed, accuracy and affordability of global disease diagnosis, announces the p-BNC, the Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip system. Currently under development, p-BNC is a credit card sized disposable device that is envisioned to work in conjunction with a toaster sized imaging platform that would analyze biomarkers found in bodily fluids and relay complex test results to consumers through an intuitive smart phone interface.

A 2013 Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE finalist, the programmable bio-nano-chip technology has the potential to change the practice of medicine by incorporating key advances in software, electronics and communication sectors. The p-BNC technology serves as the marriage of in-vitro diagnostics and electronics and is the result of a public-private partnership with CPRIT 1; the Rice university based McDevitt Research Group, Mobisoft, a global leader in App development; Porex Corporation, the global leader in advanced porous materials and MiniFAB Corporation, a global leading contract engineering firm providing custom development and manufacture of disposable polymer micro-engineered products. Additionally, Dr. McDevitt’s research in cardiac heart disease and oral cancer is in part supported by grants from the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

The in development p-BNC point of care analysis solution will use a common high performance image-based analyzer platform for all major types of diagnostics for the likes of acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, cardiac risk assessment, diabetes and chemical additions. The p-BNC lab card is currently being evaluated by six major clinical trials, the p-BNC system has the potential to diagnose in minutes what previously took labs, hours or days. The p-BNC synergizes components and achievements from nanotechnology, molecular diagnosis, microfluidics and microelectronics to create a new and powerful measurement tool in a small device footprint.

About McDevitt Research Group: The McDevitt Lab is a Houston-based medical micro device group committed to improving the speed, accuracy and affordability of disease diagnosis on a global basis. Leveraging strong foundations in nano-science and bioengineering, micro fabrication techniques, microfluidics, biosensors, clinical chemistry and artificial intelligence, the McDevitt laboratory, over the past 15 years has not only pioneered development of the p-BNC sensor platform, but also begun to use this powerful information gathering tool to gain molecular level insights into disease progression. These mini-detection ensembles with multiplexed and multi-class (cellular, genomic, proteomic) capabilities are now being customized for cancer diagnostics, cardiovascular disease, saliva-based diagnostics, infectious diseases, drugs of abuse detection, and cell imaging systems.

To learn more about p-BNC, visit the McDevitt lab at http://mcdevitt.rice.edu

1 Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas