i-Diagnostics – Open Source Platform for Global Infrastructure of Precision Medicine Non-profit project to prevent future pandemics

Open Letters to Philanthropists

The goal of the i-Diagnostics project is to prevent future epidemics and minimize the damage from existing diseases.  We envision an infrastructure based on two clusters of open-source platform technologies: TIRF Analytix and i-Diagnostics. The former cluster includes TIRF microarrays for drug screening, laboratory-based mega-diagnostics, and TIRF microscopy for single molecule biology; the latter – i-Diagnostics gadgets for home-use. TIRF Labs’ team is uniquely positioned in the area of molecular diagnostics and drug screening. After 9-11 and anthrax letter attack the U.S. Government generously funded our R&D efforts. Generously – using your taxpayer’s dollars. We didn’t take your trust for granted and pledge to give back to society by creating an open source platform for global infrastructure of precision medicine, home-use diagnostics, single molecule biology, and rapid drug screening. We have exceeded the expectations for U.S. Government awards – not only prototyped, but developed unique TIRF instruments, manufactured and supplied them to hundreds of our customers. We didn’t use standard marketing, and still rely on “advertising” by our customers who publish their studies in scientific journals. We are not famous yet, but generate enough income to chip a part of it for our non-profit endeavor i-Diagnostics. Our progress, however, was slow, while Corona and other microbes mutate too fast. Now we pledge to give back to society by creating an open source platform for global infrastructure of precision medicine, home-use diagnostics, longevity studies, and single molecule biology. We have successfully completed Phase 1, for which the US Government awarded $4.3M. To accelerate our progress, prevent future epidemics and minimize the damage from existing diseases, we inquire philanthropists for donations to cover the development cost of Phase 2.  Donate and become a part of global efforts to prevent future pandemics, revolutionize medicine, improve quality, and reduce the cost of healthcare.

We are excited to become a part of SpaceX community and contribute to its mission of making humanity an interstellar species. However, naturally occurring and man-made biological threats impose imminent risks of humanity eradication and explain the Fermi paradox. Dr. John Sotos wrote: "... assuming that civilizations universally develop advanced biotechnology, before they become vigorous interstellar colonizers, the model provides a resolution to the Fermi paradox.” TIRF Analytix and i-Diagnostics mitigate for the risks and, thus, are of paramount importance for the interstellar colonization, as well as for preserving humanity on the planet Earth.

TIRF Labs’ team is committed to make the TIRF Analytix available to every research group worldwide, and the i-Diagnostics – affordable for all. We envision that the i-Diagnostics project will create an infrastructure supported by governments and users worldwide. COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the necessity for a global infrastructure, which is capable of preventing the emergence of infections, localizing their outbreaks, and rapid development of precision medicine.

In 1918-20 the Spanish flu killed about 50 million, more than WW1, WW2, Korean and Vietnam wars combined. While Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos imagine raising humanity to 1 trillion to colonize the entire Solar system, infections appear to be the greatest challenge and risk for humanity survival. To mitigate the risk, mankind requires an infrastructure based on an open source biodetection platform capable of localizing the outbreaks and preventing the emergence of new infections. Naturally occurring and man-made infections remain the greatest threat to humanity. The envisioned infrastructure requires a super sensitive and highly multiplexed biodetection platform for laboratory studies, as well as accurate diagnostics for home-use.  TIRF Labs’ team of scientists and engineers has developed such platforms. The U.S. Government granted $4.3M for Phase 1 of our project. We are ready to move to Phase 2 to make TIRF Analytix available to all researchers and i-Diagnostics – for all on the globe.

Several research groups worldwide have already acquired our TIRF Analytix instruments and  i-Diagnostics prototypes and are developing new applications. At the present time, TIRF Labs supplies them as analytical-grade instruments. We received hundreds of requests, but only a few groups worldwide are currently using them, because of the cost. We pledge to make TIRF Analytix and i-Diagnostics robust Open Source Platforms so that TIRF Analytix becomes affordable to thousands of research groups worldwide and i-Diagnostics – for all. We believe that numerous experts will develop their applications and create the envisioned infrastructure based on the intelligence of the global network of scientists, medical doctors, and end-users. We are establishing an intelligence unit to coordinate these efforts.

We inquire The Giving Pledge members, other philanthropists, and the U.S. Government, including DARPA, NIH, NSF, and DHS to support our non-profit project. We ask for new roles of The Giving Pledge and the U.S. Government in establishing new type of non-profit investments to mitigate the risks of humanity eradication. We envision that this new type of funding will be capable of making precision medicine available for all and, thus, will help to prevent the emergence and localize the outbreaks of deadly diseases. Technologically it is already feasible. Mathematical models show that 5 pandemics with a typical mortality rate going at the same time will eradicate mankind. Humanity must mitigate the risk.

Donate to become a part of global efforts of revolutionizing medicine, improving quality, and reducing the cost of healthcare. Change the future of healthcare together with us to be always a step ahead of any disease. Read More →

Download i-Diagnostics Brochure

i-Diagnostics Power Point Presentation .ppt

i-Diagnostics Power Point Presentation.pdf

i-Diagnostics Technology  (patent pending)

The underlying technology uses the phenomenon of Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF), which provides an extremely thin layer of excitation light ~100 nm, thus removing the background interference, maximizing the sensitivity, and minimizing false-positive & false-negative responses. In our current line of commercially available TIRF Analytix products the phenomenon of TIRF allows for detecting single molecules. While our large-size analytical-grade systems are competing with Zeiss, Nikon, Leica, and Olympus, there is no competition and no analogy to our handheld i-Diagnostics device. The i-Diagnostics device consists of a cartridge, which is equipped with TIRF microarray of bioassays, and TIRF reader, which uses an embedded low light photocamera and processor to record and analyze the response of TIRF microarrays. i-Diagnostics is capable of detecting infectious diseases, cardiovascular disorders, cancers, Alzheimer’s, other neuro-diseases, as well as to prognose health and longevity.  Read More →

Open Source Platform Creates the Basis for Global Biological Safety Infrastructure

The Open Source status of i-Diagnostics platform technology is of paramount importance for creating the envisioned global biological safety infrastructure. Several of our current customers who are developing panels for i-Diagnostics asked for extended technical support to focus their efforts on application development. In 2020 we received 200+ of new inquiries. Cost-efficient hardware and software, extended technical support, and rapid logistics are essential for creating the infrastructure. Therefore, we appeal to The Giving Pledge members and other philanthropists to partially cover the costs of the application development. Your support will synergize with our enthusiastic efforts to make the development tools easily available. We envision that a large database of research groups worldwide will develop a multitude of i-Diagnostics applications based on their unique areas of expertise. These efforts will naturally create the foundation for the biological safety infrastructure. We plan to establish a specialized intelligence unit, which will analyze and coordinate these efforts to prevent the emergence of new diseases. Read More →

i-Diagnostics Advantages

• i-Diagnostics is built on TIRF bio detection platform capable of detecting single molecules.
• i-Diagnostics uses enhanced 3D TIRF microarrays to minimize false-negative and false-positive responses to negligibly small levels.
• i-Diagnostics microarrays detect 4 classes of biomarkers simultaneously: DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites, making it a mega-diagnostics device.
• In 2013 the US Department of Defense highly ranked [1] our TIRF microarray devices versus alternative technologies.
• In 2014-15 we extended our classical 2D TIRF microarrays into the 3rd dimension using silk fibroin and invented i-Diagnostics based on the TIRF microarray reader with cost below ~$400, and cartridge $1-10.  
• The above listed set of advantages is not found in alternative technologies that are less sensitive, typically detect only one class of biomarkers, require labor-intense sample preparation, exhibit large rates of false positive and false negative responses, are not compact and cost-efficient. Read More →

i-Diagnostics Applications

• Detection and diagnosing of infection diseases: COVID-19, influenza, hepatitis, Ebola, HIV, Zika, STD, etc
• Diagnosis and prognosis of cancer
• Diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases
• Diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders
• Drug discovery and development studies
• Longevity studies and analyses
• Food and water safety applications
• Civil and military biodefense applications
• Forensic applications
• Environmental applications
• Agricultural analyses
   Read More →

Real-time 3D TIRF Microarrays

Unlike traditional microarrays that measure only end-point results, TIRF arrays are of real-time format, which means analyzing the entire course of “on” and “off” kinetics. The real-time kinetics provides superior accuracy and precision to quantitative measurements, while silk fibroin enables a 3D biologically friendly TIRF environment, where bioassays exhibit major gain in sensitivity. READ MORE →

Mega-diagnostics in the Palm of Your Hand

Every human being is truly unique. We respond differently to everything, including therapies. Personalized medicine is the near future. It requires mega-diagnostics to be efficient. Unlike conventional tests that detect only one class of biomarkers, i-Diagnostics detects all 4 major classes simultaneously: DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites. i-Diagnostics tests build 4-dimensional images of the biomarker response, thus, providing superior accuracy for personalized medicine.

The scalability of each class of biomarkers can go from 10 to 100 and 1,000, which means high precision for personalized medicine. Read More →