Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc. to Host Key Opinion Leader Event on IL-6 Testing in Critical Care Settings: The Emerging Use of Biomarkers in Contemporary Management of COVID-19/Respiratory Failure

ACTON, Mass., Aug. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJDX) (“Bluejay” or the “Company”), a medical diagnostics company focused on developing cost-effective, rapid, near-patient tests for triage and monitoring of disease progression, today announced that it will hold a virtual Key Opinion Leader (KOL) event on IL-6 Testing in Critical Care Settings: The Emerging Use of Biomarkers in Contemporary Management of COVID-19/Respiratory Failure on Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.

The webinar will feature a fireside chat discussion with two KOLs at the forefront of emergency and critical care medicine. Nathan I. Shapiro, MD, MPH (Harvard Medical School) and Bryan D. Kraft, MD (Washington University School of Medicine) will discuss the challenges of identifying patients at high risk of serious complications from severe COVID-19, sepsis, and respiratory failure. They will share their perspective from the emergency department and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) settings, and how Bluejay's Symphony IL-6 test has the potential to provide simple, reliable, rapid, near-patient testing, by delivering quantitative measurements of IL-6 to guide additional patient care, acute intervention, and monitoring. 

The discussion will be moderated by Mark W. Feinberg, MD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital).

A live Q&A session will follow the fireside chat. To register for the event, please click .

About the KOLs

Nathan I. Shapiro, MD, MPH 

Nathan I. Shapiro, MD, MPH is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Shapiro is the Vice Chairman of Research for the Emergency Department. He received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine, completed an internship year in transitional medicine at Cook County Hospital, followed by residency in Emergency Medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine. Dr. Shapiro also has a master’s degree in public health in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health. His areas of interest include translational research, sepsis in the emergency department, emergency department research program development and management, and quality assurance in emergency medicine. Dr. Shapiro has an international reputation in the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis and has been active in creating links between critical care and emergency medicine. He has published over 200 original publications, including in JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, and PLoS One. He regularly lectures nationally and internationally on the approach to diagnosis and treatment of sepsis in the emergency department and has received multiple grants from funders spanning from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, to industry sponsors. As part of his research portfolio, he serves as a principal investigator and liaison with the FDA for companies seeking new indications for biomarkers and devices. Dr. Shapiro also serves as a consultant for industry partners seeking to position their company into the US healthcare system. His unique insight and working knowledge of the healthcare environment positions him to provide advice spanning from research expertise to clinical practice insights.

Bryan D. Kraft, MD

Bryan D. Kraft, MD is the new Director of the Medical Intensive Care Units (MICU) for Washington University School of Medicine. He is an experienced pulmonologist and NIH-funded investigator, Dr. Kraft joined the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as Assistant Professor of Medicine, bringing an extensive research background with numerous clinical and translational studies in sepsis, pneumonia, COVID-19, acute respiratory distress syndrome, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

As MICU Director, Dr. Kraft oversees the two adjoining medical intensive care units on the south campus of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, totaling approximately 34 beds. Services and technologies routinely applied in the MICU include mechanical ventilation, prone ventilation, hemodialysis, vasopressor and inotropic support, and noninvasive and invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Dr. Kraft leads management of the MICU and will serve as liaison with Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Dr. Kraft was previously at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC where he most recently served as Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine. He completed an Internal Medicine residency, a Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine fellowship, and an Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine fellowship at Duke University Medical Center and joined the Duke faculty in 2013. Dr. Kraft is a native of Nashville, TN and received his bachelor’s degree in biology at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and his medical degree from the University of Tennessee in Memphis, TN.

Mark W. Feinberg, MD

Mark W. Feinberg, MD is a cardiologist and vascular biologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Dr. Feinberg is Director, Program in Cardiovascular RNA Biology Research that investigates inflammatory mechanisms leading to the development of a range of macrovascular (e.g., atherosclerosis, coronary and peripheral artery disease) and microvascular disease states (e.g., diabetes). His group has discovered non-coding RNAs and cardiovascular biomarkers and has translated these findings into novel therapeutic approaches for ischemic cardiovascular disease. Dr. Feinberg has held various leadership roles in cardiovascular research including his service on international and national peer review study sections, editorial service, and as a Co-Chair of the Brigham Research Institute’s Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Metabolic Disorders Center. Dr. Feinberg completed his Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he subsequently joined the faculty. Dr. Feinberg was inducted as a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and has received several major research awards including an American Heart Association Louis N. and Arnold M. Katz Prize Finalist and the David W. Haack Memorial Award.

About the Symphony^TM System:

Bluejay’s Symphony System (the “Symphony System”) is designed to address the need for simple, reliable, rapid, near-patient testing by providing quantitative measurements of specific biomarkers to determine the need for additional patient care and monitoring. The user-friendly Symphony System will not require any sample preparation or dedicated staff and was shown in published clinical studies to deliver results in approximately 20 minutes.

The Symphony IL-6 Test is a development stage product candidate for investigational use only. It is limited by United States law to investigational use.

About Bluejay Diagnostics:

Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc. is a medical diagnostics company focused on improving patient outcomes using its Symphony System, a cost-effective, rapid, near-patient testing system for triage and monitoring of disease progression. Bluejay’s first product candidate, an IL-6 Test for sepsis triage, is designed to provide accurate, reliable results in approximately 20 minutes from ‘sample-to-result’ to help medical professionals make earlier and better triage/treatment decisions. More information is available at

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains statements that the Company believes are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Litigation Reform Act. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the ability of the Company to submit a marketing application with the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2022, whether the Company’s cash position will be sufficient to fund operations beyond the date of its anticipated regulatory approval and initial commercialization of the Symphony IL-6 Test, and whether such anticipated regulatory approval will actually occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “should,” “suggest”, “will,” and similar expressions. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and projections about future events, nevertheless, actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements the Company makes. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed under item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by the Company’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as they are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results and performance in future periods may be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release. This press release speaks as of the date indicated above. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any future changes in the Company’s expectations of results or any future change in events.

Investor Contact:

Alexandra Schuman

LifeSci Advisors



t: 646-876-3647