Revolutionizing Healthcare

When Julian Kage was in seventh grade, his best friend was infected with Lyme disease, the tick-borne illness that can cause debilitating symptoms such as headaches, extreme fatigue, and even arthritis. With the illness undiagnosed and untreated, Kage’s friend spent several months in pain.

“Lyme disease is one of the most common diseases you can get in the woods in Connecticut, where we grew up,” says Kage. “So his illness raised the question: Why wasn’t he diagnosed earlier? Why wasn’t he treated earlier? I thought there must be a better way.”

Kage set out to find that better way, creating the world’s first at-home test for Lyme disease for his eighth-grade science fair project. He won an award for his work and went on to the National Invention Convention, where he won another award that covered his invention’s patent fees.

From there, the project blossomed and grew. As a second-year undergraduate at UChicago, Kage tapped four friends to join him as cofounders of Exactics, a startup that develops rapid diagnostic tools for infectious diseases. Building on their original product—a 15-minute home test for Lyme disease—the team is now expanding its reach to include tests for neglected tropical diseases. They have also begun working on consumer-oriented tests for other tick-borne diseases and for sexual health.

In March, the team won the College New Venture Challenge, a track of the Polsky Center’s nationally ranked New Venture Challenge program. Two months later, they took home the top prize in the 15th John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC), along with $135,000 in funding.

In addition to Kage, the Exactics team includes Maxwell Almeida, Sean Greeby, Dylan Murray, and Zachary Sarmoen. We recently sat down with Kage and Sarmoen to learn more about their venture.

What prompted you to launch Exactics?

Kage: It all goes back to 2017, when my friend got Lyme disease. The process of figuring out that he actually had Lyme disease took months, and it was agony for him. I kind of grew up as an inventor, and my school had “invention conventions” every year where we tried to solve a global problem. For my eighth-grade project, I created an at-home test for Lyme disease.

How does the product work? 

Kage: It’s basically an at-home COVID test, but for Lyme disease. If you find a tick on yourself, a loved one, or even your dog, the test will tell you if the tick is carrying the disease and if it’s transmitted the disease in the past 24 to 48 hours. Then you can get treated accordingly.

Essentially, we’re applying an existing science. This type of testing platform is the same one that’s used in at-home COVID tests and pregnancy tests. It’s been around since the 1970s—it just hasn’t been used for this purpose before.

How did the Exactics team come together?

Kage: By my second year at UChicago, my patents had all been approved and I had a grant from the National Science Foundation to participate in the I-Corps program to explore the market for the product. So I asked my friends if they wanted to take this extra class with me, and they all said yes. 

Sarmoen: Julian, Sean, Max, and I became close friends during our first year at UChicago. Then Julian became friends with Dylan, another cofounder, who started out at UChicago but then transferred to Tulane. In our second year, Julian sent a text to our group chat: “Hey, I got into this I-Corps program. Do you guys want to join me?” I had another class on Friday mornings, but this sounded more fun. 

How did you move forward once you had a team?

Sarmoen: We started talking to doctors and experts at places like the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Defense. Everyone told us, “This is going somewhere. This is a big market, and we need this.” 

We participated in the Polsky Center’s Build Accelerator last summer, and that helped us develop our business strategy. Then we got into the College New Venture Challenge. During that time frame, we established two new research partnerships for future projects, including one with some universities in Nigeria.

What was the impetus for entering the social track of the NVC after winning the College NVC?

Kage: Neglected tropical diseases affect billions of people worldwide, but historically, they have not gotten a lot of recognition or funding. We wanted to expand to meet our goal of making healthcare more accessible globally, and the Social New Venture Challenge was the perfect place to bring more attention to these diseases.

Sarmoen: Lyme disease is mostly endemic to the US. So for us, the SNVC was really about developing an approach to these global-facing diseases. Some of the SNVC coaches have connections at organizations like the Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization, and we’re starting to set up talks with some of those people.

What was it like to go through the SNVC?

Kage: Going into this, none of us had launched a large business. None of us had worked on the nitty-gritty of the back end—things like founders’ agreements, accounting, payroll, and setup. All of the SNVC coaches have this type of business experience and knowledge. Throughout the process, we always had a resource that was like a never-ending stream of knowledge. 

Sarmoen: Another thing is the camaraderie we built with the other teams. It didn’t feel like a competition so much as a lot of companies in one incubator growing together. I really valued coming together with all the other companies once or twice a week and having time to network and chat. 

How did it feel to win?

Kage: My first thought was: Oh my God, how is this possible? It took a moment to process the fact that the goals we’ve been dreaming about for almost a year are now realistic possibilities.

And then my second thought was: All right, now it’s time to get to work. 

Sarmoen: Winning the competition was a sign that other people believe in what we’re doing. We might feel like we’re just a bunch of undergrads who are figuring it out as we go, but we’ve built a real company. 

What’s next for Exactics?

Kage: We officially moved into our new lab facility at the new Hyde Park Labs UChicago Science Incubator last month. Now it’s all hands on deck while we expand our R&D, get our Lyme test onto the market, and develop our next products. We’ve closed our funding round, so now it’s on to the work.

What are your long-term goals for the company?

Kage: Our goal has always been to make healthcare more accessible to the public. That was the founding principle of the company, and one of the main reasons we joined the SNVC is that we want to have a social impact. The competition showed us that we can do it and gave us the momentum to actually get it done.

What advice would you give to other UChicago students considering entrepreneurial ventures?

Sarmoen: I’d say go for it. You can definitely get it done if you have a good idea and a good team. Our mentors at the Polsky Center and the Rustandy Center were exceptionally helpful in getting us to realize that we could do this, even as undergrads.