Tim McCaffrey, PhD, professor of microbiology, immunology and tropical medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been named GW’s 2026 Inventor of the Year, recognizing years of work translating laboratory discoveries into potentially life-saving diagnostic tools.
Presented by the GW Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) and the Office of Faculty Affairs, the annual award honors a faculty member whose inventions have made a significant societal impact through patenting, licensing and commercialization. McCaffrey received the award during the university’s 16th Annual Faculty Honors Ceremony in April.
The recognition comes as McCaffrey and his Washington, D.C.-based biotechnology company, True Bearing Diagnostics, prepare to launch a pivotal U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance trial for a novel blood test designed to rapidly identify infections that cause abdominal pain, including appendicitis.
“This award recognizes a body of work that spans several years,” McCaffrey said. “The next step is simply to complete the study, get in front of the FDA and obtain clearance.”
The technology grew out of McCaffrey’s research using RNA transcription to identify biomarkers of infection in the bloodstream to develop a new, highly accurate test for infection. Rather than relying on traditional diagnostic methods such as white blood cell counts, McCaffrey measures the activity of neutrophils — immune cells that serve as the body’s first responders against invading pathogens.
“Our test is simple in the sense that it reads the activity,” McCaffrey said. “If they’re expressing these particular RNAs, you have an infection.”
The approach addresses a longstanding challenge in emergency medicine, patients presenting with an unknown abdominal pain. Diagnosis often involved multiple tests to determine whether the cause is an infection or a noninfectious condition. Delays in diagnosis can have serious consequences, particularly in the case of appendicitis, which can rupture releasing bacteria potentially causing peritonitis or sepsis.
Current diagnostic tools can be slow or imprecise. White blood cell counts provide only a general indication that inflammation may be present, while imaging studies can be expensive and expose patients to radiation. McCaffrey’s test aims to deliver more specific information by directly measuring immune cell activity.
The technology uses a small blood sample and a low-cost microfluidic chip developed by McCaffrey’s team. During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers refined the platform by creating 3D-printed chips that use magnetic beads to isolate neutrophils from a drop of blood. Once purified, the cells can be analyzed for RNA signatures associated with infection.
The result is a test capable of producing rapid results.
“In 30 minutes, you could get neutrophil activity,” McCaffrey said. “We could produce the instrument for a few hundred dollars, and those chips for two dollars.”
If successful, the technology could eventually be used not only in hospital emergency departments but also in urgent care centers, pediatric practices and other outpatient settings where rapid infection screening could improve treatment decisions.
The technology is licensed from GW through patents developed at the university. True Bearing Diagnostics, founded by McCaffrey in 2015, serves as the commercialization vehicle for the invention, while GW maintains a minority equity stake in the company.
The test has already undergone a series of clinical studies. True Bearing Diagnostics is now beginning a multi-center FDA clearance trial expected to enroll approximately 700 patients across seven clinical sites, including pediatric populations.
For McCaffrey, the award represents both recognition and validation during a challenging phase of development. Commercializing medical technologies requires not only scientific success but also physician adoption, regulatory approval and investor confidence.
McCaffrey is the third GW SMHS faculty member to earn the award. Neal Sikka, MD, professor of emergency medicine, received the honor in 2025, and Rong Li, PhD, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and Ross Professor of Basic Science Research, who won in 2024.
