PROTONDX LTD

LONDON

Unclaimed

Subcontracting experience

1 record from government sources. Past participation is not evidence of current teaming interest.

Role	Agency	Description	Vehicle	Obligated	Action date	Period
Subcontractor	Department of Health and Human Services	DIAGNOSIS OF LOWER RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS (LRTLS) OFTEN RELIES ON SAMPLE TYPES SUCH AS BRONCHOALVEOLAR LAVAGE OR ENDOTRACHEAL ASPIRATE, WHICH ARE HIGHLY INVASIVE, OR SPUTUM, WHICH IS MORE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN IN CERTAIN PATIENTS. THESE SAMPLES ARE ESPECIALLY CHALLENGING TO COLLECT IN CHILDREN; WHERE RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF LRTLS IS CRUCIAL SINCE PNEUMONIA ACCOUNTS FOR 14% OF ALL DEATHS OF CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OLD. BLOOD AS AN ALTERNATIVE SAMPLE TYPE WOULD BE MORE EASILY ACCESSIBLE IN ALL PATIENT GROUPS, INCLUDING NEWBORNS AND CHILDREN. DIAGNOSIS OF LRTLS IN CHILDREN REMAINS AN UNRESOLVED CHALLENGE AS THE DISEASE AETIOLOGY IS NOT ACHIEVED FOR THE MAJORITY OF CHILDREN, EVEN IN HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES. CULTURE-BASED DIAGNOSTIC METHODS ARE SLOW AND HAVE POOR SENSITIVITY, WHILE MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS LACK SPECIFICITY. WE DEMONSTRATED THAT BROAD APPLICATION OF MOLECULAR PATHOGEN DETECTION IN 4,611 FEBRILE PATIENTS IN THE EU-FUNDED PERFORM STUDY DID NOT ENABLE CONCLUSIVE DISCRIMINATION OF BACTERIAL OR VIRAL AETIOLOGY. VIRUSES ARE DETECTED IN MOST PATIENTS WITH BACTERIAL INFECTIONS, AND THE CLINICAL VALUE OF INDIVIDUAL PATHOGEN DETECTION IN DETERMINING TREATMENT IS LOW. NEW APPROACHES ARE NEEDED TO ACCURATELY AND RAPIDLY INFORM CLINICAL DECISIONS AND GUIDE ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY. WE ARE A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM OF MEDICAL DEVICE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERS (PROTONDX), CLINICAL ACADEMIC DOCTORS WITH EXPERTISE IN PAEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE, MOLECULAR BIOLOGISTS AND BIOINFORMATICIANS (IMPERIAL). OUR APPROACH - INSTEAD OF RELYING ON PATHOGEN DETECTION FROM LOWER RESPIRATORY SPECIMENS - RELIES ON QUANTIFICATION OF HOST BLOOD RNA BIOMARKERS, TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BACTERIAL AND VIRAL DISEASES WITH HIGH ACCURACY. HOST RESPONSE CAN ALSO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN ACTIVE BACTERIAL INFECTION AND COLONIZATION, AS COLONIZATION OR LATENT INFECTION DOES NOT GIVE RISE TO THE SAME INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES OBSERVED IN DISEASE. ADDITIONALLY, VIA RNA-SEQ STUDIES WE HAVE EXAMINED AND PUBLISHED PROOF OF PRINCIPLE THAT THE LEVELS OF EXPRESSION OF MULTIPLE RNA BIOMARKERS MEASURED SIMULTANEOUSLY CAN ACHIEVE MULTICLASS CLASSIFICATION AT THE PATHOGEN LEVEL WITH HIGH SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY. OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO IDENTIFY SIGNATURES THAT CAN BE ASSESSED IN BLOOD VIA A LOOP MEDIATED ISOTHERMAL AMPLIFICATION (LAMP)-BASED HOST RESPONSE TEST TO DETECT INFECTIONS AND CLASSIFY THE MAJOR ORGANISMS CAUSING COMMUNITY ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA (CAP). THE WORK WILL DELIVER PROOF-OF-CONCEPT FOR BLOOD-BASED TESTING USING STANDARD QPCR PLATFORMS AND A TRANSFORMATIVE PORTABLE, ACCURATE, RAPID AND EASY-TO-USE SAMPLE-TO-RESULT DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY CALLED LACEWING. THE TEST WOULD PROVIDE A MULTI-OUTCOME PROBABILITY OF A PATIENT BELONGING TO EACH DIAGNOSTIC GROUP: BROAD LEVEL CLASSIFICATION (BACTERIAL, VIRAL, TB, OTHER CAUSES), AND DETAILED LEVEL CLASSIFICATION (IDENTIFICATION OF THE CAUSATIVE PATHOGEN). THE TESTING OUTPUTS WOULD ULTIMATELY INFORM CLINICAL DECISIONS IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS (EDS) AND URGENT CARE CENTRES IN <20 MINS WITHOUT A LABORATORY AND SKILLED PERSONNEL. WE WILL FOCUS ON CHILDREN UNDER 2 YEARS OLD, WHICH ARE A HIGH-RISK POPULATION FOR CAP WHERE INVASIVE SAMPLE TYPES ARE EVEN LESS ACCESSIBLE. WE WILL LEVERAGE EXISTING RNA BIOMARKER DATA USING A NOVEL CROSS-PLATFORM BIOINFORMATIC FRAMEWORK FOR SIGNATURE DISCOVERY AND TRANSLATION THAT WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH LAB-BASED OR POINT OF CARE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS. OUR FRAMEWORK INCORPORATES PLATFORM-SPECIFIC CONSTRAINTS EARLY IN THE BIOMARKER DISCOVERY AND SELECTION PHASES TO ADDRESS PRECISION-RELATED CHALLENGES AND MAXIMISE TEST DEVELOPMENT FEASIBILITY. TESTING WILL BE CONDUCTED ON A REAL-TIME LAMP (QLAMP) PLATFORM WITH PRELIMINARY COMPARISON TO OUR LAB-ON-CHIP ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING LACEWING PLATFORM IN SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY FOR REAL-TIME ELECTRONIC LAMP (ELAMP), WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN DEMONSTRATED WITH BLOOD AND OTHER SAMPLE TYPES FOR TARGETS INCLUDING SARS-COV-2, DENGUE, COLISTIN RESISTANCE AND KLEBSIELLA. KC4101 Parent award context Parent award agency: Department of Health and Human Services · Office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Parent award NAICS: 541714 Parent award performance state: MA Parent award description: CARB-X GLOBAL ANTIBACTERIAL ACCELERATOR OTA View parent award on USAspending	—	$248,997	Sep 23, 2025	— – —

Contract vehicles are shown only when present in the source record. Linked award numbers and vehicles open the authoritative record on USAspending.gov.

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