NEW ORLEANS – Informuta, a biotechnology company specializing in sequencing- and machine learning-based diagnostics for infectious diseases, has opened a new laboratory at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC).
The expansion brings the company’s clinical research operations to New Orleans and highlights how local partnerships with Ochsner Health, the Tulane Innovation Institute, and a coalition of investors are shaping the city’s emergence as a biotech hub.
Collaboration with Ochsner Health Drives Clinical Validation
The new facility will allow Informuta to conduct pilot validation and clinical studies, beginning at Ochsner Health. The company’s platform uses artificial intelligence and DNA sequencing to test infections for drug susceptibilities and, distinctively, to forecast the likelihood that resistance will develop over the course of treatment. Company leaders say those predictive insights can accelerate treatment decisions, improve patient outcomes and strengthen antibiotic stewardship efforts.
“Our partnership with Ochsner is mutually strategic and central to advancing our technology,” said Kalen Hall, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Informuta. “Together, we are collecting patient samples, testing for accuracy and comparing predictions against real-world outcomes. This work will generate critical clinical and health economic data that supports our FDA submission. Looking ahead, we envision Ochsner as one of the first implementation sites, where we can measure the impact on patient outcomes, treatment decisions and overall care delivery.”
Ochsner leaders also framed the collaboration in terms of broader community impact. “Our collaboration with Informuta brings groundbreaking diagnostic capabilities to our patients and aligns with our purpose at Ochsner as we improve health outcomes throughout the Gulf South,” said Dr. Nneka Ifejika, chief scientific officer. “It’s an example of how healthcare and biotech collaboration can increase economic mobility and open new opportunities for our communities.”
Tulane Spinout and Founder Lab Fuel Local Investment
Informuta’s growth reflects the strength of local investment networks. Tulane Ventures, 1834 Ventures, Boot64 Ventures and New Orleans BioFund joined NOBIC and the Tulane Innovation Institute to support the expansion. As a Tulane University spinout, Informuta builds on the university’s tradition of translating research into commercial ventures with global reach.
Aiming to turn groundbreaking faculty discoveries into companies and jobs in New Orleans, Tulane recently launched Founder Lab, a new accelerator that moves research into market-ready startups through intensive six-month cycles—a model adopted by fewer than 10 U.S. universities. Backed by the Tulane University Innovation Institute, which has already launched 11 successful faculty spinouts, Founder Lab tackles one of the toughest hurdles in academic commercialization: researchers may be world-class scientists, but they’re not always entrepreneurs.
“The New Orleans ecosystem has been absolutely critical to our early success,” Hall said. “The Tulane Innovation Institute and NOBIC provided access to early capital and helped us secure key federal funding, including our Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant. Our collaboration with Ochsner has been a milestone in giving us access to patients for clinical validation, while winning the BioChallenge brought both funding and visibility. Beyond the resources, the collaborative nature of this community—its eagerness to support and connect innovators—has been invaluable in moving our company forward.”
Kris Khalil, executive director of NOBIC, said Informuta’s decision to expand here “reinforces our city’s position as a hub for life science innovation. This expansion means more specialized jobs, more clinical impact and more reasons for top talent to call New Orleans home.”
Next-Generation Diagnostic Technology Targets Drug Resistance
Traditional diagnostics provide a snapshot: clinicians send a sample to a hospital lab and receive results showing which drugs are effective or ineffective at that moment. Informuta’s approach adds a predictive dimension. “Our technology goes further by predicting how resistance will develop over time—at 7, 30, even 90 days,” Hall said. “For example, we can indicate that a particular drug has an 85% chance of resistance emerging within 30 days.”
For acute cases like sepsis, that insight helps doctors avoid drugs likely to fail and improves the chance of survival. For chronic or recurrent infections, it informs longer-term treatment strategies. “Our immediate focus is on high-risk patients—such as those who are immunocompromised, transplant recipients or undergoing chemotherapy—who are especially vulnerable to drug-resistant infections,” Hall said.
But the broader aim, he added, is to change the entire paradigm of diagnostics. “Today, the field is largely reactive: we test after resistance has already occurred. Our approach looks forward, predicting whether resistance is likely to develop in the future and giving clinicians the ability to intervene before it happens. By enabling proactive decision-making, we can prevent treatment failures, conserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics and ultimately slow the spread of resistance—a critical step in addressing what is projected to become the leading cause of mortality by 2050.”
Positioning New Orleans as a Growing Biotech Hub
Hall said Informuta is working toward Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification for its NOBIC lab, which will allow it to receive samples, run tests and deliver validated reports that directly impact patient care. The company is aiming for its first full implementation pilot by the end of 2026, involving 24-hour turnaround results integrated into real-time treatment plans.
In the meantime, Informuta is continuing pilot studies with Ochsner and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, while also maintaining operations in San Diego, California.
“We are in the process of setting up our lab suite here, and the milestones ahead—clinical validation studies, CLIA certification, regulatory approval—are all paving the way for market launch,” Hall said. “By anchoring our clinical operations in New Orleans, we’re not only advancing our technology but also creating high-value jobs and helping position this region as a leader in biotech innovation.”
Informuta’s expansion adds to a growing roster of companies and research programs now clustered at NOBIC and Tulane Innovation Institute. Together with Ochsner’s role in piloting new diagnostics and Tulane’s push through initiatives like Founder Lab, local leaders see these efforts as building blocks for a sustainable biotech economy. As startups scale from faculty discoveries to FDA submissions, New Orleans is aiming not just to host innovation but to become a national model for how academic research, healthcare systems and investors can collaborate to drive new industries.
