The finalists for this year’s ADLM Disruptive Technology Award Competition are making breakthroughs aimed at detecting heart attacks in minutes, reducing pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility, and enabling advanced molecular diagnostics without added costs. Now in its eighth year, the competition recognizes innovative testing and disruptive technology solutions with the potential to improve diagnostic performance or access to high-quality patient care. In May, three finalists were chosen from six semifinalists:
- Chemeleon, for its binding-induced nanostructure dynamic surface (BINDS) assay, a first-of-its kind, instrument-free diagnostic platform that delivers lab-precision results in under 2 minutes. Their lead product targets acute myocardial infarction by detecting and quantifying cardiac troponins with 99.2% sensitivity and 90.5% specificity.
- MagicIC Lifescience, for its MagChipR, a point-of-care molecular diagnostic testing platform. This affordable, ultra-fast PCR system with high multiplexing capability can deliver lab-quality pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility results in under 20 minutes. This means same-visit results, diagnosis, and treatment, leading to better patient outcomes and lower costs.
- Rarity Bioscience, for its Rarity superRCA, an ultrasensitive molecular amplification technology that converts nucleic acid sequences into fluorescent particles. This technology allows molecular analysis via standard flow cytometry, which is already widely available in hematology and pathology labs. By leveraging existing infrastructure, superRCA enables the seamless adoption of advanced molecular diagnostics without additional capital investment.
These finalists will present at ADLM 2025 (formerly the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo) on July 28. The winner will be announced at the end of the session.
Not only does the Disruptive Technology Award Competition recognize breakthrough technologies, but it also gives the diagnostic and laboratory medicine community an early look at innovative and impactful products that address gaps in the field and/or improve upon existing solutions. That includes the semifinalists, too. While not eligible for the top prize, they are making great strides in laboratory medicine:
- Bloodscan Biotech: Its Labyrinth One product is an automated circulating tumor cell (CTC) enrichment system that enables high-throughput, label-free isolation of viable CTCs from blood samples. The disruption is its speed: Labyrinth One provides rapid, high-purity CTC enrichment in just 15 minutes.
- C2N Diagnostics: Their PrecivityAD2 blood test is changing how medical professionals identify the presence or absence of brain amyloid pathology in people with cognitive impairment. It’s simpler, less burdensome, and less expensive than tests that use cerebrospinal fluid or brain amyloid PET imaging.
- Truvian: TruAnalyzer is a multi-modal platform capable of simultaneously performing clinical chemistry, immunoassay, and hematology tests with less than 10 drops of whole blood. The goal is to make routine blood testing simple and more convenient.
All six finalists and semifinalists will showcase their technologies from July 29–31 at the ADLM Clinical Lab Expo.
Through the Disruptive Technology Award Competition, ADLM welcomes applications from companies developing new, disruptive diagnostic tools and/or technologies. ADLM seeks technologies that are unknown to the laboratory medicine community, in the hope that the competition can help companies take the next step in development for the benefit of medical professionals and the patients who rely on them.
Jen A. Miller is a freelance journalist who lives in Audubon, New Jersey. +Bluesky: @byjenamiller.bsky.social
Explore the full ADLM 2025 program.
