Methods and compositions for identifying fecal protein bioprofiles and treating inflammatory and neurological disorders
Technology Transfer Spotlight is a new MedSurgPI (MSPI) feature designed to translate academic innovation into clear industry opportunity. This first spotlight highlights an East Carolina University (ECU) invention published as WO2025155794A1, focused on subject-specific fecal protein bioprofiles, risk assessment, longitudinal monitoring, and kit-enabled use across inflammatory, neurological, neurodegenerative, and aging-associated disorders.
THE OPPORTUNITY: Inflammatory, neurological, and aging-associated disorders are biologically complex and often recognized only after meaningful disease progression. Developers and clinicians need biomarker approaches that are non-invasive, repeatable, and capable of capturing more than a single signal. ECU’s published application is directed at that gap by using stool as an accessible matrix for disease-related host-protein analysis.
THE INNOVATION: The invention establishes a subject-specific fecal protein bioprofile by extracting proteins from fecal material, determining relative abundance, grouping proteins by biological pathway, and generating a unique profile. The published application further describes using protein pathway enrichment scores to assess risk for inflammatory, neurological, neurodegenerative, and aging-associated disorders, and to monitor disease progression over time. The abstract also expressly includes kits for carrying out the method.
WHY IT MATTERS: First, it is non-invasive and well suited to serial sampling. Stool collection is better suited to repeated monitoring than many conventional approaches, which makes it attractive for patient-friendly screening and follow-up. Second, the signal is pathway-based rather than single-analyte based, creating room for broader biological interpretation, including immune activity, gut inflammation, and host-response patterns that may not be apparent from a single marker. Third, the same platform framework is positioned across inflammatory disorders, neurological disease, neurodegeneration, and aging-associated conditions an unusually broad span for one early translational asset.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PERSPECTIVE: The intellectual property links sample collection, host-protein profiling, scoring logic, monitoring, and kitenabled deployment in one framework. That creates multiple partnering angles, including diagnostics, clinical biomarker strategy, proteomics service models, and remote disease-monitoring workflows. Those commercial pathways are an inference from the profiling, kit, and dashboard concepts described in the published application.
STRATEGIC INSIGHT: Many biomarker programs solve only for signal generation. This ECU asset addresses how a real-world workflow could function: collect the sample, isolate the relevant signal, interpret the biology, and potentially report changes over time through a usable platform. That combination supports positioning as a scalable translational platform rather than only a discovery-stage assay.
CALL TO ACTION: For additional information or partnership discussions, contact the ECU Office of Licensing & Commercialization. ECU contact Carlyle Rogers, Director of Licensing and Commercialization, innovation@ecu.edu.
PRACTICAL POINTER: The platform value of an academic invention increases when the IP covers not just the biomarker signal, but also the collection method, scoring framework, and deployment model.
Technology Snapshot
Institution: East Carolina University
IP Asset: WO2025155794A1 | WIPO (PCT) PCT/US2025/011987
Status/Dates: Published Jul 24, 2025 | Priority Jan 17, 2024 | Filed Jan 17, 2025
Inventors: Tonya Nicole Zeczycki, Stefan Clemens, Whitney Gabrielle Bond
Modality: Stool-based host-protein bioprofiling
Use Cases: Risk assessment, monitoring, kit-enabled testing
Classification: Go1N33/68
Partner Fit: Diagnostics, proteomics, digital health, CRO / biomarker partners
