Pioneering Non-invasive Wearable MIR Spectrometry for Key Health Biomarkers Analysis
ABSTRACT
Modern medicine has improved dramatically through a better understanding of what causes a condition or what it is correlated to. However, the healthcare system still follows an episodic (reactive) model, where patients only seek medical advice when there are symptoms, which, for certain medical conditions, has proven critically insufficient. Several biomarkers such as uric acid, free fatty acids, or ketone bodies correlate with and thus indicate aspects of chronic conditions such as the metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, or diabetes. The more biomarkers can be measured and quantified with high accuracy, the easier it becomes to make conclusive decisions on the patient’s status.
Quantune Technologies provides an alternative approach for the measurement of biomarkers, using Mid-Infrared (MIR) Spectroscopy (or simply Infrared Spectroscopy, not to be confused with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy), the most powerful laboratory analytics tool, used in biological and chemical labs around the world for decades to analyze, among many other things, the molecular composition of body fluids and tissue. Currently, this kind of technology is stuck to laboratory use only due to its desktop size, the need for a vibration-free environment, cryogenic temperatures, and extensive sample preparation and maintenance. Additionally, the devices are expensive, with a cost of around 100k€.
Quantune has developed an MIR spectrometer based on a widely tunable Quantum Cascade Laser and touch-detector based on the photoacoustic effect. It is miniaturized to wearable-level with hyper-scalable production for volume markets. It is also robust and suitable for everyday use. The spectral coverage of the technology of 5–11 μm is ideally suited to detect biomarkers non-invasively and pain-free in the interstitial fluid in the skin.
BIOGRAPHY
Jan studied physics at Humboldt-University Berlin and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Fulbright scholarship. For his PhD, he worked on novel External-Cavity Quantum Cascade Lasers, before founding Quantune Technologies in 2019. Quantune is transforming infrared spectroscopy by bringing its lab-grade analytical power to new markets and people’s lives. He co-authored 6 patent families and has won several scientific awards, most notably the 2023 Bertold Leibinger Innovationspreis.