Weil Institute spin-off selected for I-CREATE Accelerator Program
RUA Diagnostics was one of nine innovative MedTech companies selected for the cohort.
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Contains content adapted from a press release originally published on universitylabpartners.org.
ANN ARBOR, MI – RUA Diagnostics, a spin-off company of the University of Michigan Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation, has been selected as one of nine cutting-edge MedTech startups to join in the inaugural I-CREATE Accelerator Program cohort.
I-CREATE is one of five strategic BARDA Accelerator Network Hubs (BAN 2.0), focused on empowering innovative startups to accelerate the development, scalability, and commercialization of medical devices and diagnostics globally. Administered by University Lab Partners (ULP), a premier nonprofit wet lab incubator and accelerator, I-CREATE fosters groundbreaking innovation in the medical device and diagnostics sectors by serving as a bridge between startups and a network of investors, industry leaders, and experienced mentors. The program emphasizes advancing innovative technology to develop medical countermeasures that address the public health and medical consequences of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) accidents, incidents and attacks, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases
RUA, which specializes in point-of-care-diagnostics, was established in 2023 to commercialize a micro-gas chromatography (MicroGC) breath analysis device developed by a multidisciplinary team of Weil Institute members led by Dr. Xudong (Sherman) Fan, Associate Director of the Weil Institute and Richard A. Auhll Endowed Professor of Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Kevin Ward, Executive Director of the Weil Institute and Professor of Emergency Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. Through the support of the I-CREATE Accelerator, RUA will receive up to $200,000 in non-dilutive funding, customized mentorship to fit their needs, and consulting over six months to support the development, evaluation, and validation of their technology.
Micro-GC Team
Xudong (Sherman) Fan, PhD (Weil Institute, Engineering, Biomedical Engineering); Ruchi Sharma, PhD (Weil Institute, Biomedical Engineering); Kevin Ward, MD (Weil Institute, Emergency Medicine, Biomedical Engineering); Sardar Ansari, PhD (Weil Institute, Emergency Medicine); Loc Cao, MS (Weil Institute, Emergency Medicine)
Disclosures
Drs. Fan and Ward are co-inventors of the micro-GC technology and serve as advisors for RUA Diagnostics. Both Drs. Fan and Ward have equity in RUA Diagnostics.
Dr. Sharma is an inventor of patents licensed to RUA Diagnostics.
The University of Michigan has a financial interest in RUA Diagnostics.
About RUA Diagnostics
RUA Diagnostics is pioneering a new era in point-of-care diagnostics with its groundbreaking breath analysis technology, developed at the University of Michigan and the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation. To learn more, visit ruadiagnostics.com.
About the Weil Institute
The team at the Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation is dedicated to pushing the leading edge of research to develop new technologies and novel therapies for the most critically ill and injured patients. Through a unique formula of innovation, integration and entrepreneurship that was first imagined by Weil, their multi-disciplinary teams of health providers, basic scientists, engineers, data scientists, commercialization coaches, donors and industry partners are taking a boundless approach to re-imagining every aspect of critical care medicine. For more information, visit weilinstitute.med.umich.edu.
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