RALI-DX: Rapid Diagnostic Tools for Acute Lung Injury

Sepsis, severe pneumonia and respiratory viruses are key causes of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)—a detrimental lung condition that results in >3 million ICU admissions/year and can lead to organ failure and death. In Canada, ~18,000 patients with ARDS are admitted to hospital annually and those requiring critical care place an immense burden on hospital resources. Early detection of ARDS is vital for treatment to be effective. However, there remains a significant gap in precision diagnostics capable of recognizing early acute lung injury leading to ARDS that would enable the delivery of timely and cost-effective interventions. The proposed Mitacs project will focus on the validation of a recently discovered set of biomarkers and algorithms predictive of early acute lung injury, and will be performed on SQI Diagnostics’ novel platform that the team envisions will be integrated into emergency department hospitals worldwide.

Faculty Supervisor:

Shaf Keshavjee

Student:

Bonnie Tso Yu Chao

Partner:

SQI Diagnostics Systems Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of Toronto