Nine Diagnostics was selected to participate in The Engine‘s Blueprint program, a competitive early-stage program for tough tech companies, with program participation beginning September 13, 2024 and culminating in the Blueprint Showcase on October 18, 2024.
The Engine was built by MIT in 2016 to address a persistent gap in the innovation ecosystem: companies working on deep science and engineering-intensive technologies often require more time and capital to reach commercial viability than conventional venture timelines accommodate. The Engine supports early-stage tough tech companies through direct investment, shared laboratory and technical infrastructure, and a network of scientific and commercial advisors. Blueprint is The Engine’s 8-week cohort-based program, primarily virtual with Friday core sessions, designed for PhD students, postdocs, research scientists, and early-stage founders actively commercializing breakthrough innovations. The program equips participants with tools to de-risk their ideas, conduct technical and commercial self-diligence, and build a pitch for their tough tech work, culminating in a Blueprint Showcase where teams present to investors, mentors, and ecosystem partners.
Nine Diagnostics was selected for Blueprint as a company developing a platform at the intersection of nanotechnology, AI, and clinical diagnostics. The platform’s reliance on engineered single-walled carbon nanotube sensor arrays, multivariate optical signal acquisition, and machine learning applied to complex biological data positions it firmly in the tough tech category: a technology requiring deep scientific investment but offering transformative diagnostic capability once validated. The program provided access to The Engine’s broader network of deep science investors, operators, and ecosystem partners.
Participation in Blueprint came at a pivotal early stage for Nine Diagnostics, as the company was defining its regulatory strategy, prioritizing clinical indications, and structuring the first commercial partnerships to support the platform’s path to clinical use. The in-person Blueprint Showcase brought the full Nine Diagnostics team into direct dialogue with The Engine’s staff.
About Nine Diagnostics
Nine Diagnostics is an AI-enabled multi-omic nanosensor company advancing precision medicine. The platform simultaneously captures proteomic, metabolomic, and lipidomic signals alongside patient clinical context to generate a multi-omic fingerprint, using machine learning to identify disease-relevant patterns without requiring prior knowledge of which biomarkers matter. This enables pre-treatment patient stratification, on-treatment response monitoring, and post-treatment minimal residual disease detection. Founded by Freddy T. Nguyen, MD, PhD (CEO), Daniel A. Heller, PhD (CSO), and Mijin Kim, PhD (Scientific Advisor), Nine Diagnostics is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About The Engine
The Engine is a tough tech investor and ecosystem builder built by MIT in 2016. It funds and supports early-stage companies developing transformative technologies in life sciences, energy, advanced manufacturing, and other sectors where breakthrough innovation requires more time and capital than conventional venture can provide. The Engine provides access to shared laboratory space, technical infrastructure, and a network of mentors, co-investors, and industry partners. Its Blueprint program has supported over 735 graduate companies that have collectively raised $475M+ in capital.