Vision
CIAN’s vision is to develop and bring to market biomarkers that will inform changes in blood flow associated with disease.Our goal is to bring products to market that will eventually lead to point-of-care testing that will diagnose severity of disease and prognosticate outcomes associated with severity.
What does CIAN stand for ?
Cilia Analysis. CIAN means ancient in Gaelic, which is apt for cilia, an ancient cellular organelle.
The Science behind our Technology
Our technology is based on proteins found inside a microtubule-based organelle called cilia that is present in most cells in the body. In blood vessels, cilia are found on endothelial cells that line the blood vessel. Our group discovered that upon turbulent flow, cilia are dismantled from blood vessels and falls off, a process called “deciliation.” Proteins from inside the cilium are spilled in blood, and often stick to cells in blood. CIAN technology will identify ciliary proteins in blood, which will in turn inform the underlying state of vessel health and predict disease inception and progression.
How was CIAN born ?
CIAN, Inc is a Delaware incorporated start-up company founded by Professor Ramchandran in March 2023. The foundational concept that the company was based on emerged from Prof. Ramchandran’s work on the faculty at Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), which started in 2018 based on an observation in the lab that cilia was lost from endothelial cell upon high shear stress in zebrafish brain vessels. This project was then funded by a trans agency blood brain interface initiative through a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-R61/R33 mechanism. During this award, Prof. Ramchandran and his team were invited to participate in two commercialization-to-clinic programs (eC3i and 3Ci), which helped gain the skills for commercialization. CIAN, Inc. was born out of this endeavor. The technology has been licensed from MCW into CIAN for future development. CIAN, Inc. is based in Wisconsin.