Nanopath’s 15-Minute Molecular Test Could Reset the Global Standard for UTI Diagnostics

Urinary tract infections are among the most common medical issues worldwide, yet the diagnostic pathway for complicated UTIs still feels decades behind.
Patients wait days for culture results. Clinicians prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics “just in case.” And antimicrobial resistance grows quietly in the background: one empirical prescription at a time.

It’s a cycle everyone recognizes, but very few have been able to change. That silence may finally be breaking!

Nanopath, a Dartmouth-born startup founded by Dr. Amogha Tadimety and Dr. Alison Burklund, has developed a first-in-class molecular diagnostic platform that can identify UTI-causing pathogens and key antibiotic-resistance markers directly from urine, in about 15 minutes, at the point of care.

And it does all of this without the need for nucleic-acid amplification.
No PCR. No batch workflows. No 24- to 72-hour wait.

It is, simply put, a fundamentally different way of thinking about molecular diagnostics.

This month, the platform received FDA Breakthrough Device designation for complicated UTI diagnosis, a strong signal that regulators believe this technology could materially improve how cUTIs are detected and treated.

Behind the science lies a story of deep engineering: a label-free nano-biosensing platform capable of reading genetic information with extraordinary sensitivity, multiplexing across pathogens and resistance genes, and delivering clinically actionable results within the same patient encounter.

In practice, it means patients get the right therapy from the first dose—not after days of guesswork.
It means fewer avoidable hospitalizations, fewer sepsis escalations, and fewer unnecessary antibiotics.

It means giving clinicians the ability to diagnose and treat in one visit, the way outpatient care actually works.

Backed by $10M in Series A funding, NIH/NSF SBIR grants, and support from translational partners at Dartmouth, Nanopath is quickly emerging as one of the most promising companies in point-of-care molecular testing, with a clear path toward commercialization and a platform extensible to vaginitis, STIs, HPV, and broader women’s health diagnostics.

At The LifeSciences Circuit, we see Nanopath as a standout example of how deep science, purpose-built engineering, and regulatory clarity can converge to create a diagnostic that is both clinically meaningful and system-level efficient.

A technology built not just to detect pathogens but to help reshape the global response to antimicrobial resistance: one rapid, precise, and accessible test at a time.