Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

IMMY creates diagnostics for Cryptococcus

Get in Touch

By Jim Stafford

Copyright © 2013, The Oklahoma Publishing Company

NORMAN — Every day, around the world, about 2,000 people die from a fungal disease known as Cryptococcus. Yet I had never heard of it until I met Sean Bauman.

Bauman is president of Norman-based Immuno-Mycologics Inc. — better known as IMMY — which has developed a simple test for Cryptococcus and is raising awareness of its devastating effects around the world. He recently invited me down to tour IMMY’s laboratories and learn something about this disease that is a tremendous burden in Third World countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa.

“What you hear about is AIDs and HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,” Bauman said. “Part of what we are doing is, we are out there trying to raise awareness of this disease.”

Turns out that Cryptococcus is a ubiquitous organism. We all inhale it.

Sean Bauman, IMMY CEO“For those of us who are healthy and have a healthy immune system, it doesn’t cause any problems,” Bauman said. “But if you are an HIV patient and have a suppressed immune system, it can cause tremendous problems. It travels from the lungs and ends up in the brain, causing meningitis. That’s the really late stage of the disease.”

With an early diagnosis of a lung infection and treatment, patients recover rapidly.

However, for people living in developing nations, where HIV is prevalent and access to health care is not, Cryptococcus takes a terrible toll. That’s where IMMY’s rapid, test strip Cryptococcal Antigen Assay makes a difference.

“What’s so amazing about this test is it does something very, very simple,” Bauman said. “All it does is connect a sick patient to the drugs that are freely available to these patients.”

It’s not that simple, however. In many of what Bauman calls “resource limited” nations, the bureaucracies that oversee the health care systems are suspicious of Americans and American companies.

So, the challenge becomes convincing ministries of health in various countries to make the tests widely available to their citizens.

“How can we change policy in these different countries?” Bauman asked. “Why should they listen to this arrogant American who doesn’t look like them, talk like them? Imagine a Kenyan trying to change policy in the United States.”

Collaborations with the Clinton Health Foundation and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine is helping IMMY make progress. Both organizations are well embedded in developing nations, and their endorsement helps validate IMMY with government officials.

IMMY packages everything needed for the Cryptococcus test in a sealed, waterproof package that can withstand shipping challenges of heat and handling in rural areas of Africa or Asia. And, in a new development, the company has further refined the test so it now requires only a single drop of blood from a patient.

“What’s best about that is that you don’t have to run the test in a lab setting,” Bauman said. “You can run it in a clinic where a nurse could collect a drop of blood, put it in a tube, put the test strip in and get the result in 10 minutes.”

Before I left IMMY, Bauman gave me a tour of IMMY’s laboratories and offices. He stopped abruptly at a wall map of the world, with areas where Cryptococcus is widespread highlighted in red. Vast areas of Africa and Asia stood out in bright color.

“There is such a tremendous need,” he said.

Jim Stafford is Communications Specialist with i2E Inc. in Oklahoma City.

Click here to read the article at newsok.com.

More News

Loading...
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.25.25

Oklahoma Collegiate Entrepreneurs Take Home Over $167K at Entrepreneur’s Cup

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
12.16.24

MidAmerica and i2E Announce Award Winners

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
11.21.24

i2E & Plains Ventures Surpasses $100M Milestone in Total Investments

Read more
Blog
09.30.24

i2E Receives 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Award from IEDC

Read more
Blog
06.18.24

Bridge2 Demo Day Returns, Highlighting Promising Oklahoma Startups

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
05.13.24

Student Entrepreneurs Triumph at 20th Anniversary Entrepreneur’s Cup, Winning $158,000 in Prizes

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.24.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Jessica Kinsey

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Nathan Fountain

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Srijita Ghosh

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.18.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – MaxQ

Read more
Blog, i2E
01.30.24

i2E Celebrates Success of Inaugural Bridge2 Demo Day

Read more
Blog, i2E, News
12.18.23

i2E and MidAmerica Industrial Park announce award winners for high school entrepreneurship program

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

201 Robert S Kerr Ave, Suite 600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

12 N. Cheyenne Ave, Suite 112
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Funding
  • Venture Advisory

© 2025 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Linkedin Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube

Programs

  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E