Our Crowdfunding Groups
Help fund the prototype of our invention, the "Infection Detective!"
Our team came together during the Texas Biodesign program, which paired UT Austin graduate students with clinicians and entrepreneurs at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. With the help of our team's clinician, Dr. Cristina Checka, we identified surgical site infections as a significant clinical need that could be solved with scientific innovation!
Surgical site infections can happen with any incision. Wounds are usually examined at scheduled post-op appointments but infections can also happen anytime. Patients are asked to call if they notice redness and warmth but the problem is that this is largely subjective and contingent on the self-reporting of symptoms.
If infections are detected early, treatment with antibiotics is effective, inexpensive, and can often be done at home. However, severe infections may develop, often leading to rehospitalization, which costs an average of $20,842 per patient, in addition to added stress and worry.
Our clinical hypothesis is that early detection of surgical site infections will enable earlier intervention with effective treatments that will minimize rehospitalizations.
This project provides a solution to objectively detect early surgical site infections in post-operative patients at home in order to let surgeons start treatments early.
Our solution is a microneedle patch embedded in a bandage and applied to the surgical wound. The patch, named the "Infection Detective", objectively measures biological markers of an infection, and transmits this data to the clinical team, who can start treatments if needed. Once our prototype is complete, our next step will be to validate our hypothesis in surgical patients at MD Anderson.
Your support will help us build our "Infection Detective" prototype! Make a donation today to help us make an impact!
100% of donations will be used to fund the continued research & development of our "Infection Detective" prototype. This is a multi-institutional project, and your support will lead to continued scientific research and venture development in the UT system!
About 1 in 50 US patients develop a surgical site infection after a routine surgical procedure.
Median wound site temperature, in Fahrenheit, of a surgical site infection.
An estimated 157,500 surgical site infections occur per year in the US, and many of these would be preventable with earlier detection and intervention!
For a donation of at least $250, our team will give you a personal video shoutout!
Rehospitalizations for surgical site infections cost an average of $20,842 per patient!
