Kompass Diagnostics Wins 2026 ADLM Disruptive Technology Award for Rapid Multimodal Testing Platform

The company was selected from three finalists during a special session held July 27 at ADLM 2026 in Anaheim, California.

The annual competition highlights diagnostic technologies with the potential to improve patient care, expand access, and address gaps in existing testing pathways. Finalists presented supporting evidence and answered questions from judges, who assessed innovation, clinical impact, and disruptive potential.

Kompass received the award for its rapid multimodal electrical transduction platform. The system uses the company’s proprietary Electrical Transduction Assay framework to support biochemistry, immunoassay, and molecular diagnostics through simplified fluidics. It has demonstrated femtogram-per-milliliter detection of HIV p24 and molecular detection of hepatitis B virus within five minutes.

Its first application, IDA, is a rapid multi-hormone test intended to guide time-sensitive decisions during fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization and egg freezing. Using finger-prick whole blood, the test delivers results within 10 minutes, potentially helping clinics shorten waiting times and increase testing capacity.

Anvil Diagnostics (Cambridge, MA, USA) was selected as a finalist for MycoScan, a pan-fungal digital PCR blood test designed to identify more than 41 fungal species from 2 mL of plasma in approximately 3.5 hours. The technology generates distinctive multilocus fingerprints for fungal pathogens and uses software to interpret the digital PCR data. It is designed to run on standard digital PCR instruments already installed in many hospitals.

MycoScan is being developed to improve diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised patients, including individuals undergoing cancer treatment or organ transplantation. Anvil reported a detection limit of one genome copy or less per assay for seven important fungal species and is evaluating the test through pilot programs at three hospitals.

The third finalist, Augurex Life Sciences (Vancouver, BC, Canada), presented the SPINEstat Immunoassay, a blood-based test designed to help distinguish inflammatory back pain linked to axial spondyloarthritis from mechanical causes of chronic back pain. The assay detects disease-relevant autoantibody responses and is intended to complement C-reactive protein testing, HLA-B27 testing, and imaging. It has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and regulatory approvals in Canada and Great Britain.

The competition also featured three semifinalists. In Diagnostics presented the Quic Liver and Kidney Panel, an instrument-free test that quantitatively measures alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine from 50 µL of finger-stick blood. The single-use device connects to a smartphone or computer through a low-cost USB dongle and is being developed for at-home monitoring.

MADx showcased Allergy Xplorer 3, or ALEX³, a multiplex IgE test that evaluates 300 analytical features from 145 allergen sources in one procedure. The system uses molecular allergens and includes software to help clinicians interpret sensitization patterns.

Prolight Diagnostics presented the Psyros Digital Immunoassay Platform, which detects and counts individual molecular binding events directly in whole blood. The company is initially developing a high-sensitivity cardiac troponin test for the system.