Startup Story: project that helps determine the immune’s state

The Startup Story column, beloved by our subscribers, continues to introduce successful projects of the Central Asian countries that took part in the Tumaris.Tech program. IT Park’s next on spotlight guest is the CEO and co-author of the Tissup project Nurlybek Uderbaev from Kazakhstan.

How did the startup idea come about?

Nurlybek oncologist, doctor of medical sciences, general director of Scientific and Clinical Center for Innovative Medicine LLP in Astana.

The Tissup project is a technology for determining human immunity by mathematical processing of digital indicators of a general blood test. The startup was created with the aim of accurately and quickly and massively determining the state of human immunity without the help of a doctor.

“My colleague Professor Ponomarev Igor Olegovich and I started working in this direction in 2011 in Astana, and we began to apply it more widely in our practice since 2018. More than 1500 different scientific publications have been studied. The goal was to find a simple, fast and understandable method for determining immunity, used in practical medicine. The problem is that the world still does not have a method for quickly and inexpensively determining the immune state of a person. The available methods for determining individual indicators are expensive, long in execution and difficult to use even for doctors. Moreover, even with special studies, these indicators in 80% do not correspond to the purpose of their use.”

Then they decided to develop a technology for determining immunity, understandable both for a doctor and for any person. After 10 years of hard work, the goal was achieved.

“We carried out research and development work to identify and eliminate deficiencies and obtained copyrights. The methodology was refined from 2018 to 2022 - then my colleague and I analyzed about 20,000 blood tests and, through mathematical processing, brought the idea to a life product.”

At the end of 2021, the methodology was digitized for online use (remotely). According to Nurlybek, there are no analogues of this technique in the world. Thanks to the use of this technique, the founders of a startup can control the process of prescribing drugs, the body's response to them, and correct prescriptions without wasting time.

What benefits does your startup bring to society/people?

As Nurlybek notes, at present, no one knows at all what the immune state of people is, since the available immunograms are expensive, their determination takes several days, and the conclusions are uncertain.

“We offer a technology for determining the immune status of a person by a general blood test. This analysis is done anywhere in the world and is the most standardized method that meets all the parameters of the screening test (standard of procedure, availability, economic feasibility, well studied, widespread). With the help of this technology, a person can control the work of his immune system, and consult a doctor in a timely manner to correct his health. This is a big breakthrough, and this is especially important in the context of pandemics and seasonal epidemics.”

The entire technological process takes place online in three stages:

 • introduction of digital indicators of the general blood test;

 • data processing (1 second);

 • the result (1 second).

“Thanks to this system, among the population it is possible to identify those people who already have impaired immunity and belong to a high-risk group for the disease. Thus, the program allows planning preventive measures aimed at reducing the epidemiological state of the population. Our technology can be applied both at the level of a site, district, city, and on a national scale as the “Health of the Nation” project, Nurlybek added.

The technology has a number of advantages, including the ability to carry out immune screening remotely; the ability to identify risk groups and ensure a wide coverage of the population in a short time.

The project team currently consists of 7 people:

• Bekzat Karimkyzy - project manager, general coordination, promotion, development and commercialization of the project, search for investors, interaction with partners, government agencies and clients, presentation of the project at all levels;

 • Igor Olegovich Ponamarev - CEO, Ph.D., author of the idea, application of technology and further study in practice;

 • Gulmira Zhenistikovna Uderbaeva - PhD, application of technology in work, analysis and analytics, patient management at all stages of outpatient and inpatient monitoring;

 • Altyngul Kurmangazy - project manager, interaction with clients, partners, contractors, project presentation, work in the field of development and promotion of the project;

 • Kuralai Slambekkyzy - doctor-analyst, document management for the collection of analytics and technology development;

 • Nazerke Omirbekova - statistician, collection of statistical data on the work and application of technology;

 • and Nurlybek Nurlanovich Uderbaev himself - CEO, Doctor of Medical Sciences, co-author of the idea, application of technology and further study in practice.

How is your project developing?

As the guest of the column admits, until today the project has not received funding.  All research and the main work was carried out by the team at its own expense.

“A few months ago, we invited qualified development and promotion specialists, as well as a development team to create a new site. Now we are developing the platform, rebranding the product. We are also working on simplifying the language. We want the report to be not only detailed, but also more understandable for the general public.”

At the initial stage, startups had to deal with complete misunderstanding, distrust of the technology and its results, as well as a lack of financial support.

“New and unknown is always scary.  But due to the fact that the startup industry in Kazakhstan is developing well and progressively, over time, people began to show interest in the project.  In general, I think if the idea really surpasses the existing ones or has some kind of chip, then sooner or later success is guaranteed.”

In many ways, Nurlybek admits, the team's participation in the Tumaris.Tech program helped the development of the project. The hero of the interview notes that thanks to Tumaris.Tech, startups began to look at many processes from a different angle.

Impressions from the program are only positive, he added. What appealed to him the most was the discipline and demands of the program.

“Development always starts with discipline. The Tumaris.Tech program is a very interesting and varied format for presenting information, different and sensible speakers, the community itself and the atmosphere in the program energize and set you on the desire to grow and develop. Any training leads to new knowledge, a new format for perceiving your product, its management and, accordingly, leads to new ideas.”

For novice startuppers, Nurlybek wants them to believe in their ideas.

“Don't stop there, don't give up. I wish you to constantly develop, study, learn, progress and be in different circles. Because you never know where exactly your project will get the most interest or the chance to open the right doors. And remember that faith in the idea, creativity and uniqueness brings success to any project!”