Federal Grant Award Summary

Rumedical Nova LLC received a $305,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) awarded July 15, 2026, with completion targeted for December 31, 2027. The awardee is developing a next-generation portable bio-chip platform designed to detect lung cancer biomarkers in body fluids such as blood serum with high sensitivity and rapid turnaround. The product leverages innovative nanoscale sensing elements to identify disease signals at extremely low concentrations while benchmarking performance metrics including accuracy, sensitivity, and reproducibility against state-of-the-art diagnostic technologies. Work is being performed in Austin, Texas.

The broader impact of this technology addresses a critical public health need, as lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, largely due to late-stage diagnosis when treatment effectiveness is diminished. By enabling non-invasive, affordable, and accessible early-stage detection, the solution has potential to improve patient survival rates, reduce family financial burden, and lower national healthcare costs. Beyond lung cancer applications, the chip-based platform is anticipated to be adaptable for detecting biomarkers associated with other cancers such as pancreatic cancer, as well as neurodegenerative diseases and infections, positioning the technology to establish new markets in point-of-care diagnostics and strengthen U.S. healthcare innovation leadership.