U. of I. Innovation Detects Dialysis Access Failure

A new wearable device designed to warn dialysis patients when their access point begins to fail will start pilot testing this fall in Illinois. The noninvasive system uses ultrasound to monitor blood flow at the access point and alert doctors to early signs of trouble. It was developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by graduates of Carle Illinois College of Medicine and The Grainger College of Engineering. 

Auvi Labs, one of the first investor-backed companies to emerge from the med-tech pipeline at Carle Illinois and U. of I., plans to pilot-test the system with patients locally as it prepares for regulatory approval.

The Chicago-based startup calls the new system Beacon. Developers say it fills a gap in current monitoring practices, which often depend on subjective observation. The wireless ultrasound monitor is worn once a day and provides an objective measure of blood flow through the dialysis access site. Accompanying software analyzes the data and sends real-time alerts to physicians when blood flow is impeded. 

Photo Credit: Auvi Labs

For patients with kidney failure who rely on dialysis, maintaining a working access point is essential. The fistula, a surgical connection between an artery and vein, is preferred because it is safer than grafts or central-line catheters, which carry a higher infection risk. But even fistulas have limits, with a 40% failure rate in the first year.

During medical school at Carle Illinois, Dr. Richard Li recognized the need for better monitoring, especially in patients with new fistulas. “Patients were routinely presenting to the emergency department, unclear as to when their fistula had thrombosed, or found in clinic to have nonfunctioning fistulas,” said Li, who is now a vascular surgery resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Li says many failing fistulas can be repaired if doctors intervene within 48 hours. He drew on his engineering background and the skills of U. of I. engineering students to design and prototype a patient-centered solution.

“The Beacon device was designed as an early detection tool to catch fistula failure far before thrombosis. Our system does the surveillance for the patient. It does not rely on external operators or trained ultrasound technicians to provide flow measurements. The dream is that more fistulas make it to maturation, fewer patients need indwelling catheters, and there are fewer emergency department visits and more prompt, elective interventions,” Li said.

The project started as Li’s senior Capstone Innovation at Carle Illinois, where medical students lead cross-disciplinary teams to develop new healthcare solutions or processes. It quickly became a startup company, Auvi Labs, with software engineer and CEO Rishab Veldur, who trained at The Grainger College of Engineering at U. of I. 

In 2024, the team pitched its prototype at the Cozad New Venture Challenge, finished second overall, and won $3550,000, including space at Chicago’s MHub, which allowed them to refine the hardware and software prototypes. 

Photo Credit: Auvi Labs

“Our technology has matured to the point where it can make a meaningful impact in the real world,” Veldur said. The team plans to launch the first of several pilot studies at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

“This device (Beacon) was ideated on the surgical wards at Carle Foundation Hospital, prototyped in the basement of the Medical Sciences Building, refined in Chicago, and is now headed into human trials back at Carle Foundation Hospital,” Li said.

The startup’s access to the U. of I.’s entrepreneurship ecosystem connected them with experts who are experienced in med-tech development and crucial early-stage funding. Among them is advisor and serial investor Craig Scherer. “What I saw is rare, a solution that lines up a clinical value proposition for the patient with an economic value proposition for both the provider and the payor. When all three point in the same direction, you have something durable,” he said.

Investor-adviser Eric Heinz said Beacon makes sense economically as well as medically. “Renal care is one of Medicare’s largest spend categories, and the emergence of kidney contracting entities makes the economics genuinely interesting. A tool aimed at catching access problems earlier fits naturally into a risk-bearing model,” he said.

Both Heinz and Scherer point to the University of Illinois and Carle Illinois as a rich ecosystem for med-tech innovation. Scherer said seven of his last ten investments have been founded at the U. of I.’s Urbana-Champaign campus.

Li said his entrepreneurship journey demonstrates how Carle Illinois College of Medicine – the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine – is living up to its mission to advance healthcare through technological innovation. 

“Carle Illinois gave me the foundation to bridge gaps not just across specialties within medicine but across engineering and business to bring innovations from the bench to the bedside,” he said. 

Veldur said his company aims to take Beacon to market in 2028. 

Editor's note: This article was featured in Crain's Chicago Business.