{"entity":{"id":"cytoastra","kind":"company","name":"CytoAstra","aka":[],"tldr":"CytoAstra develops the Cytophone, a device that shines laser light through the skin to count melanoma cells travelling in the blood, without a needle. It is being tested in people with melanoma to see whether it can detect spread early.","summary":"CytoAstra is a spin-out of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), co-founded by James Suen and Vladimir Zharov and a tenant of the UAMS BioVentures incubator. Its platform, in vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry, uses the Cytophone, with two pulsed lasers and an ultrasound transducer array, to detect rare circulating cells in peripheral blood vessels through intact skin; the company says the FDA determined it to be a non-significant risk device and that it is also developing a version that can treat as well as detect. The trial NCT06488365 tests in vivo liquid biopsy for early detection of metastatic melanoma. The company also works on malaria detection with an NIAID STTR phase 1 grant of 600,000 US dollars. Its first registered cancer trial, NCT06488365, was posted on ClinicalTrials.gov in July 2024.","asOf":"2026-10-29","links":[{"label":"Official website","url":"https://www.cytoastra.com/"},{"label":"ClinicalTrials.gov: in vivo liquid biopsy of melanoma with the Cytophone (NCT06488365)","url":"https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06488365"},{"label":"National Cancer Institute: Cytophone detects melanoma cells in blood (2019)","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2019/cytophone-detects-melanoma-cells-in-blood"},{"label":"Arkansas SBTDC: CytoAstra portfolio page","url":"https://asbtdc.org/portfolio/cytoastra/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["melanoma"],"sections":["diagnostics","devices"],"technologies":["ctc-capture"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Headquarters is not stated on the company website; Little Rock is inferred from its tenancy of the UAMS BioVentures incubator and should be checked.","Founding year not stated.","The 600,000 dollar NIAID grant (1R41AI138690-01) is for malaria detection and is described on the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center page; it is not recorded as a funding row.","The technology tag ctc-capture is the nearest available for in vivo circulating tumour cell detection.","Company website and press page read on 29 October 2026."],"hq":"Little Rock, AR","country":"US","companyType":"devices","website":"https://www.cytoastra.com/","stage":"startup","investors":[],"funding":[]},"route":"/companies/cytoastra/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"devices","kind":"section","name":"Devices & Physical Therapies","route":"/fronts/devices/"},{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"}],"technology":[{"id":"ctc-capture","kind":"technology","name":"Circulating tumour cell capture","route":"/technologies/ctc-capture/"}]}}