FBB CEO wins Innovator of the Year award
FBB CEO wins Innovator of the Year award
Dr. Howard Urnovitz wins Iowa JPEC Innovator of the Year award for groundbreaking blood test
Link to article by University of Iowa – John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC)
Blood Test Alternative to the Spinal Tap
Brain disease diagnosis is painful and often inaccurate
- Pain: Diagnosis of brain diseases relies heavily on spinal taps (lumbar punctures)
- Inaccuracy: Brain diseases are misdiagnosed up to 30% of the time
- About 600,000 people are diagnosed with a brain disease per year in the US
The Challenge
Painful and Often Inaccurate
The spinal tap is part of the current standard of care for the diagnosis of brain diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Some of these brain diseases are misdiagnosed 3 times out of 10, leading to the use of inappropriate medications.
The Opportunity
Alternative to the Spinal Tap
While 363,000 spinal taps are performed per year in the US, no definitive diagnostic test exists for neurodegenerative diseases. Blood tests based on our technology will finally bring precision to this field by delivering minimally invasive, highly accurate blood tests for differential diagnosis.
Our Solution
RNA Biomarkers
FBB Biomed’s proprietary RNA signatures and machine learning algorithms differentiate between specific brain diseases.
FBB Biomed’s pre-clinical research has demonstrated significant potential for earlier, more accurate diagnosis of these diseases.
Our Product
Reagent for NGS Test
FBB Biomed’s reagent enables novel next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostics. A FBB test provides neurologists with a liquid biopsy for brain diseases.
Our test runs on standard laboratory sequencing equipment and protocols. No new hardware or processes required.
Actionable Clinical Utility
Use Cases
Differential Diagnosis
"Which specific neurologic disease does this patient have?"
Therapy Monitoring
"How effective has the therapy been for this specific patient?"
From the Scientific Community
What Others Say About Us
“If we could look at biomarkers and understand who is going to progress to the most severe form of the disease, it also could change the therapies that we would offer to that patient. This is where we could have a tremendous impact on the whole course of a disease.”
Dr. Patricia Winokur, Executive DeanCarver College of Medicine, University of Iowa 
“If we could identify biomarkers that are associated with a poor prognosis for COVID-19 or any other disease, then we would know – prior to that person having a poor outcome – that they were at risk for a poor outcome.”
Dr. Richard Smith, DirectorIowa Institute of Human Genetics, University of Iowa 
“We take all the data and let the machine learning approach guide us through which genes or which transcripts or which patterns are actually important rather than putting our own bias into what we think is important.”
Dr. Henry Keen, Research ScientistIowa Institute of Human Genetics, University of Iowa 
“FBB Biomed’s research does not look into single values of the immune status but looks at the history of the immune system and gives a complete picture of what has happened to that individual person.”
Dr. Heinz Hänel, Advisor to FBB BiomedHonorary Professor, Goethe University 