FePhonePoint-of-Care Iron Status Determination Enabled by Mobile Technology

VitaMe Technologies Inc. and Cornell University will develop the FePhone - a point-of-care diagnostic system for iron status determination.The FePhone comprises of (1) a test cartridgewhich accepts the blood sample and performs the test, (2) a TidBit readera custom portable hardware system developed by Cornell which operates the test, and (3) a mobile appwhich provides step-by-step instructions for performing the test, communicates with the TidBit, interprets the test outcomes, and provides the desired OK, Iron Deficiency, or Iron Deficiency Anemia result to the operator. The FePhone system builds on our existing NutriPhone platform which is a point of care system which serves to diagnose micronutrient deficiencies in 10 minutes from a finger stick of blood and has already been validated for in human trials for cholesterol, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. We have also already accomplished preliminary validation of an iron status test comprising of a multiplexed sTfR, serum ferritin, and CRP.The proposed work will be split between Cornell and VitaMe with Cornell focusing on assay development and final validation and VitaMe performing the fabrication for high-volume chip production, constructing a second generation reader system, app development, and preparing for FDA approval.