LightWave Diagnostics

ADVANCING LIGHT-BASED METHODS FOR CANCER EARLY DETECTION

OPTICAL BIOPSY

One of the newest and most promising methods for early cancer detection is known as an Optical Biopsy – the use of light waves to detect and diﬀerentiate cancer cells from normal cells. Optical biopsies oﬀer low-cost, safe and accurate methods to detect many forms of cancer at the earliest stage possible.

Optical biopsies provide the ability to screen more people and more sites per person, faster and cheaper than other methods. Portable and low-cost optical sensors will make it possible to provide cancer screening services to underserved and disadvantaged populations worldwide, reducing the burden of cancer on all of society.

Optical biopsies have the potential to transform how we detect and treat cancer. Early detection can change a diagnosis of cancer from a life-threatening disease to a short-term treatment with full recovery.

LightWave Diagnostics’ technology will advance the state of this technology a step further by making cancer detection fully digital, from data acquisition to diagnostic analysis, eliminating the need for surgical removal of tissue and the traditional subjective and manual interpretation of cellular conditions.

What's next?

While the technology is applicable to all forms of cancer, the initial application will be for skin cancer and other cancers near the surface of the body. The solution will provide a new method for cancer screening that eliminates the need for surgical biopsy and the time and expense of pathology lab examination. No more cutting, scarring, risk of infection or waiting for pathology lab results. The measurement is made in seconds, and the diagnosis is returned in minutes.

The USFDA has already issued a letter designating LightWave Diagnostics’ proposed clinical investigation as a nonsignificant risk (NSR) device study, which allows the technology to proceed to clinical trials without the need for an Investigational Device Exemption.

who we are

OUR MISSION

To eliminate late stage cancer through early detection for as many people in the world as we can.

COLLABORATION

Foundation for Early Detection of Disease

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National Foundation for Cancer Research

AIM-HI Accelerator Fund

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RSAT - Molecular Imaging

Member of IBM PartnerWorld

Member of NVIDIA Inception Program

OUR EXPERIENCE

Our team includes:

Doctors;
Pioneers in Artificial Intelligence, imaging and Cloud-based services;
Quality and risk management experts, and
Cancer patient advocates

TEAM

Stephen W. Stetson

Dr. Harold Kraft, MD

Mr. Stetson is the Founder of Lightwave Diagnostics, LLC, and driven by the synergy of his personal motivation to beat cancer and his professional expertise in data analytics. Mr. Stetson has pioneered social impact ventures and digital technology for forty years. His experience in the fields of automated data analytics and artificial intelligence began in the 1980's. Over the years, NASA, DoD and several other federal agencies, foreign governments and private corporations have called upon

Mr. Stetson to develop solutions to a variety of problems. Now, he is applying his knowledge to beating cancer!

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Dr. Harold Kraft, MD

Dr. Kraft earned his M.D. from Georgetown University Medical School. He then spent two decades serving as Chairman and Vice- Chairman of two community hospital departments. Dr. Kraft has had a dual career, medicine and highly scalable software. He has also been a CEO and a C-level executive at multiple software companies and filed numerou

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Keith Jackson, BS, MS, MBA

Leading up to his role at Lightwave Diagnostics, Mr. Jackson has been the Managing Director of ETEC Consulting Group, a consultancy specializing in Quality and Risk Management Systems, and engineering and business process improvement for Fortune 500 clients worldwide. His knowledge of QM and RM protocols are essential to regulatory approval of LightWave Diagnostics' medical solutions.

Arthur K. Watson, Jr.

Keith Jackson, BS, MS, MBA

Mr. Watson joined the venture in 2019 as an investor and business advisor.

Mr. Watson is also the owner and manager of Watson Enterprises Incorporated (“WEI”). He has been a major philanthropic supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Advisor

Nathan Hagen graduated with a PhD degree in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona in 2007, studying snapshot imaging spectrometry and spectropolarimetry. After working as a postdoc at Duke University and Rice University, in 2011 he joined Rebellion Photonics, in an effort to develop snapshot imaging spectrometers as commercial products. By 2016 Rebellion Photonics had become a successful company and financially independent, and Dr. Hagen moved to join the newly-formed Optical Engineering department at Utsunomiya University in Japan. He has produced 14 patents and published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles.

early detection comes first

Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection

“The greatest advances in cancer research will be obtained — and more lives saved — by focusing translational research on early detection.”

MRC Cancer Cell Unit University of Cambridge

"Earlier diagnosis is the most promising approach to improve long-term survival of patients with cancer." Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald

Cancer Research UK

"The early detection and interception of cancer will be one of the main ways in which we will beat the disease in the future. Not only does it provide routes to more effective treatment, it also provides health systems around the world a way in which to grapple with the mounting costs of care in complex diseases such as cancer."

Dr Iain Foulkes, Executive Director Research & Innovation, CRUK

Oregon Health & Science University, Knight Cancer Institute

The new knowledge that has revolutionized treatment, has done little to help catch cancer early and ideally, prevent it.

Even as treatment options have dramatically improved, with once-a-day pills that target the specific biology of each patient’s disease, early detection of cancer has been frozen in time. Today, we still use the same screening tools that we’ve deployed for decades. Mammograms and PSA tests for prostate cancer are the best we have today, but they’re woefully inadequate. They miss some cancers while triggering many unnecessary biopsies and treatments.

We know cancer is an easier foe when caught early. It is cheaper to treat. And patients live longer and suffer less when it is detected early. Indeed, targeted therapy and early detection will prove to be inextricably linked. Early stage cancers are easier to treat because they harbor fewer mutations and molecular defects.

Cancer Research UK

Earlier diagnosis of cancer offers the greatest potential for transformational improvements in patient outcomes.

The chances of survival are increased significantly for almost all patient groups if the disease can be diagnosed and treated at an early stage. For example, a patient diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer has over 70% chance of survival beyond one year. This drops to less than 15% if diagnosed at stage 4.