Home

 

Visit leuko.com for up to date information

 

An MIT project (span-out in 2018) focused on developing the first non-invasive white blood cell level monitor, for home-based screening for high risk of infection in chemotherapy patients.

ABOUT THE MIT PROJECT

We learned that many cancer patients can tolerate a higher frequency of chemotherapy infusions than they typically get, and that with a higher frequency comes the high potential for better treatment outcomes. So we began to develop a personalized daily home blood test that will indicate when patients are ready for the next infusion ahead of the typical scheduling. Our optics-based test is non-invasive, detecting key informative blood cells through the skin without pain. A potentially transformative improvement in chemotherapy management.

The key blood cells for our cancer application are also the key blood cells detected in acute infection. A simple test for these cells is sought throughout the resource poor regions of the world; especially where HIV-associated bacterial co-infection is endemic. There are approximately 4 billion people living in rural regions of our planet who currently have little or no access to testing for infection, which we've set out to provide. 

The research was funded by the NIH’s Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care, MIT’s Deshpande Center, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation at BU, the Madrid-MIT M+Vision Consortium, the EU FP7-PEOPLE-2011-COFUND Program, Fundación Ramón Areces, the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), and the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund.

More information:

Leuko Labs - MIT Innovation Initiative

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering -  "Home monitor detects dangerous drop in white blood cells"