Diagnostics · Sample preparation

Don’t let sample prep limit your assay’s market reach.

Boost Sensitivity. Mitigate Inhibition. Own the OTC Market.

The Hero Concentrator device
handheld · disposable · no extra purification needed

>100×

More target signal vs. a conventional 2-hour extraction

7 CT

Immediate sensitivity gain into your assay platform

30 sec

Hands-on prep time

Swab-Free Sample Collection · Drops in Upstream of Your Existing Assay

Immunoassays Molecular / PCR

The problem

Unprocessed raw samples severely compromise assay performance and erode commercial margins.

Skip the 2-hour extraction. Our manual liquid filtration device concentrates samples in seconds, mitigating the matrix effect to deliver up to a 7 Ct value improvement over traditional qPCR kits. Without the need for extra extraction/purification.

By stripping away inhibitors and concentrating non-invasive samples, like urine and oral gargle, into a highly purified sample, we provide the lab-grade accuracy required to finally unlock and expand your OTC market reach.

OEM Integration

Eliminating the sample prep bottleneck.

Drop-in sample prep for the platforms you already use.

Molecular: PCR / Isothermal Amplification

Bridge the sensitivity gap

Mechanically concentrates dilute targets, and removes sample inhibitors, causing an equivalent 128x increase in sample concentration. Protects sensitive assay chemistry from sample matrix inhibitors, and enables at-home molecular tests to achieve central-lab performance without complex hardware.

Lateral Flow Immunoassay

Replace the invasive swab

Concentrates dilute, non-invasive samples (like oral gargle or urine) to the high microbial concentrations required for lateral flow immunoassays, delivering a demonstrated 80-fold decrease in Limit of Detection (LoD).

Explore OEM partnerships

The Hero Concentrator™: see it in action

A hand operated device engineered for mass-market performance.

The Mechanism

Disposable. Hand operated. High pressure microfiltration.

A hand operated disposable device engineered for mass-market performance.

High-volume sample collection
01 Input

High-Volume Sample Collection

The user collects a high-volume (10mL – 30mL), low-concentration liquid sample (such as urine, gargle, or microbial rinse solution) directly into the device.

Concentrate and wash
02 Concentrate

Mitigating Sample Matrix Effect

By simply screwing the components shut, the cup harnesses immense manual pressure to force the fluid through our proprietary filtration module eliminating the need to centrifuge.

Capture and removal
03 Capture & Removal

Selective Target Isolation

The highly concentrated biological specimen is captured directly on our filter membrane, which is seamlessly removed from the device.

Target recovery
The Outcome

Universal Assay Integration

The captured membrane delivers the concentrated target directly into the downstream assay of your choice, ready to amplify, with the inhibitors left behind.

Direct solutions

Direct Solutions to Your Biggest Pain Points

We bridge the physical gap between complex, low-concentration, biological samples and your detection platforms without the need for centrifugation.

PCR Inhibition & Sensitivity

The Pain

Complex inhibitors block molecular reactions, causing high failure rates, demanding expensive onboard extraction, and keeping your sensitivity falling short of FDA performance requirements.

The Advantage

Mitigation of inhibitors via mechanical prefiltration. Deliver pure, concentrated quality samples. Drop Ct up to 7 cycles, without centrifugation and extra purification.

The Invasive Swab Bottleneck

The Pain

High-sensitivity diagnostics currently demand high microbial loads, which are typically only isolated via invasive deep-tissue swabs. This mandatory invasiveness introduces critical user-error risks and creates a strict regulatory barrier that often blocks FDA over-the-counter (OTC) clearance for home use.

The Advantage

A shift to fully non-invasive collection: gargle or urine. High-purity target capture from dilute specimens bridges the sensitivity gap and unlocks a path to FDA OTC clearance for STIs, Strep, and more.

Mail-In Diagnostics & Workflow Failures

The Pain

Working with a tiny, dilute biological specimen means sample degradation during shipping reduces analyte viability, leading to lower detection rates, invalid results, and retesting costs.

The Advantage

Our technology handles 10–30 mL of fluid, concentrating the entire specimen onto a membrane. Direct transfer into a stabilization vial, with no pipetting and no biohazard liquid handling.

Platform potential

Demonstrated Targets & Platform Potential

Our mechanical concentrator relies on sample-agnostic physics. Review our internal proof-of-concept data or partner with us to unlock new matrices.

Photo: Hero Concentrator device images/platform-lab.jpg
Hero Concentrator device in hand
Proof-of-Concept Achieved

STREP (GARGLE) & STIs (URINE)

We have generated strong internal data demonstrating the concentration of Strep bacteria from simple gargle washes and STI pathogens from high-volume urine (10mL – 30mL). By mitigating the Matrix Effect in these specific fluids, while in parallel concentrating the target analyte, we are building the foundation for highly sensitive, swab-free diagnostics.

Photo: dairy herd / mastitis images/platform-mastitis.jpg
Dairy herd, bovine mastitis
Future Platform Expansion

MASTITIS, TB GARGLE, FOOD TESTING, ONCOLOGY, VET & ENVIRONMENTAL

Driven by sample-agnostic physics, our filtration platform is positioned to tackle various liquid matrices. Over the coming months, we will expand our R&D to explore applications including bovine mastitis (raw milk), TB (oral gargle/oral rinse), food pathogen testing, oncology liquid biopsies, veterinary fluids, and environmental water.

Photo: your application images/platform-custom.jpg
Custom application
Your Custom Application

BRING YOUR OWN ASSAY

Are you trying to concentrate bacteria from large volumes of urine, oral rinse, gargle, or microbial rinse solutions? We want to hear from you. Our engineering team works directly with OEM partners to adapt our core mechanics and test them against your specific diagnostic needs.

Talk to our engineers

Designed for Telehealth

Capture the $1.25B At-Home Strep Market.

There is currently no FDA-cleared at-home Strep test because traditional swabs fail in the hands of untrained consumers.

That is why we built EZSTREP. By allowing for prefiltration and concentrating a simple gargle, EZSTREP eliminates user error and delivers a consistent, lab-quality sample.

This swab-free capability unlocks the path to true digital health integration and remote prescribing, allowing you to dominate the massive over-the-counter market.

Don’t let your competitors get there first.

Explore the EZSTREP opportunity

The 1st and only swab-free home strep test

In development. Not approved by the FDA.

Sexual health · OTC opportunity

The unserved, urine-based STI market.

Over a million STIs are acquired every day worldwide, yet there is still no rapid at-home test for men, and women are limited to invasive vaginal swabs. Urine is the only universal sample, but its inhibitors crash standard home tests. The Hero Concentrator changes that, transforming raw urine into a concentrated, ultra-pure specimen so OEM partners can launch the first truly universal, swab-free, at-home STI testing platform.

Explore the sexual health opportunity
1M+
STIs acquired / day
$3.2B
At-home STI testing market (TAM)
0
Home tests for men today

The opportunity

The Mass-Market Opportunity

Current over-the-counter (OTC) molecular tests, like disposable PCR units, are too expensive for the mass market. Our sample-prep technology breaks this price barrier. By delivering a high-quality, concentrated sample, we allow partners to use much cheaper and simpler tests (like LAMP, RPA, or lateral flow) without losing accuracy.

Because we use non-invasive samples (like urine or gargle), we also simplify the regulatory path for home use. We lower the total cost of the kit and remove the technical hurdles, finally making high-performance OTC testing affordable for everyone.

The Hero Concentrator™: Complex Physics. Simplified Workflow.

150 PSI Manual Power
We achieved extreme pressure in a hand operated disposable device to process even the most difficult samples.
Total Bio-Safety
Our “closed system” design prevents leaks, spills, and aerosols, making it safe for any environment.
Seamless Interface
Our removable membrane system is designed to integrate directly with existing test cartridges and diagnostic platforms.
Smart Filtration
Intelligent back-pressure control ensures a consistent flow regardless of sample variability.
Automated Scalability
Architected for low-cost, high-volume automated manufacturing to meet mass-market demand.

The team

The Hero Scientific team

Physicians, scientists and engineers building the future of at-home diagnostics.

RL
Robert Levitz

Robert Levitz, MBA

CEO & Co-Founder

Served as CEO of Green Smoke through its product launch, rapid market growth, and acquisition by Altria for $130 M. MBA from Tel Aviv University and Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.
LF
Lazar Fruchter

Lazar Fruchter, MD

CMO & Co-Founder

Practicing pediatrician board certified in pediatrics, allergy, and clinical immunology in the United States and Israel. Completed fellowship at Boston's Children's Hospital and MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
SA
Susan Alpert

Susan Alpert, PhD, MD

Sr. Regulatory Advisor

Pediatric infectious disease clinician with a PhD in microbiology from NYU and an MD from the University of Miami. Previous positions include SVP for Global Regulatory Affairs at Medtronic and Director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA.
YA
Yaakov Alter

Yaakov Alter

Sr. Microbiologist

M.Sc. specializing in microbiology and immunology from Queen's University, Canada, and an Honours B.Sc. specializing in microbiology and biotechnology from McMaster University, Canada.
JW
Jay Wohlgelernter

Jay Wohlgelernter, MD

Principal Investigator

Specialist in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery. MD from McMaster University, Canada. Completed specialty training at Hebrew University and sub-specialty training at UCSD, California.
GJ
Gila Jacobi

Gila Jacobi

Research Assistant

Previously conducted research at Columbia University Department of Genetics. Completing an MS in biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University.
ER
Efraim Rosenbaum

Efraim Rosenbaum, MD

Clinical Pediatrician

Clinical pediatrician with 20 years' experience, including with Leumit Health Services in Israel. Involved in research of innovative, non-invasive strep detection methods. MD from the University of Pennsylvania and pediatric specialization at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital in Boston.
AH
Arie Holtz

Arie Holtz

Lead Engineer & Co-Founder

Over 25 years' experience in mechanical engineering. B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.