Updated: 18/12/2025 | Read time: 1 min
What’s new?
Despite the name, there’s no pampering involved at SPA.
Specialty Physician Associates (SPA) is a leading physician-led practice based in multiple locations across Pennsylvania, specialising in ear, nose and throat (ENT) care, allergy and immunology, audiology, and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. Privately owned and clinically driven, SPA brings together a highly trained, multidisciplinary team focused on delivering evidence-based, patient-centred care.
Beyond day-to-day clinical practice, SPA has a strong commitment to research and innovation. The group partners with academic institutions and industry leaders - including pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca - as well as companies like Optinose and Neurent Medical to conduct clinical trials that advance diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in respiratory and airway disease.
Diagnosis Powered by Collaboration
In 2021, Diag-Nose.io partnered with SPA to undertake a proof-of-concept study exploring the clinical utility of nasal biomarkers.
The goal was clear:
To assess whether minimally invasive nasal sampling could provide meaningful biological insights across a range of applications, including diagnosis, disease prediction, and patient triage.
SPA’s diverse patient population and experienced clinical teams made them an ideal partner for this early-stage evaluation.
Working closely with their physicians and research staff, we were able to test real-world feasibility, integrate sampling into clinical workflows, and begin validating nasal fluid as a window into airway health.
Before the ABEL microsampler came into existence, the collaboration with SPA laid the groundwork with a series of preclinical studies designed to understand nasal fluid as a biological sample - everything from how to handle it, process it, and reliably extract meaningful signals.
This work showed that nasal fluid can be processed and stored with flexibility, without compromising biomarker stability or data quality.
With this foundation in place, a pilot clinical study translated these insights into the real world, revealing protein signatures that align with infection type and inflammatory endotype - findings that went on to underpin two patent applications for our diagnostic algorithms.
These findings helped validate Diag-Nose.io’s core technology and inform subsequent optimisation of our sampling methods, analytical pipelines, and clinical use cases.
What’s next for Diag-Nose?
Building on this foundational partnership, Diag-Nose.io is continuing to expand its clinical collaborations and refine nasal biomarker applications across respiratory and inflammatory diseases.
Key insights gained from the clinical t trial with SPA are shaping our next phase of development - from larger validation studies to broader clinical integration - as we work toward making non-invasive airway diagnostics a practical reality.
Keep an eye out for our latest breakthrough and behind-the scenes updates by following us on LinkedIn!