Bernhard Weigl

Dr. Bernhard H Weigl is the Senior Director, Diagnostics Research and Development at Global Health Labs, a nonprofit organization created by Gates Ventures and the Gates Foundation, and the successor organization to Global Good. Gates Ventures is Bill Gates’ private office. A primary function of GH Labs is to answer R&D questions for Diagnostics for Low Resource Settings in collaboration with major BMGF grantees, as well as to develop novel diagnostics designed for low resource settings.

At GH Labs, and at Intellectual Ventures/Global Good previously, he leads work to develop the next generation of highly sensitive diagnostic tests for diseases of relevance in developing countries, including those for infectious diseases, nutritional screening, as well as some cancers. His team also develops and codevelops novel platforms for possible commercialization through BMGF partners, including polydisperse digital droplet assays and simplified point-of-care nucleic acid assays, ultra-sensitive strip-based immunoassays, associated analysis equipment, and other biotechnology research for low resource settings. His latest major R&D program is the development of an ultra-low cost, fully lateral flow-based isothermal nucleic acid amplification platform called NAATOS, with an initial application in TB diagnostics using the oral swab sample format.

Previously he led the PATH Diagnostics Group where he oversaw global health diagnostics programs funded by a variety of sources such as NIAID and NIBIB, the Grand Challenges program of the BMGF, USAID, and the PATH Health Innovation Portfolio. He also served as Portfolio Leader for Non-Communicable Disease Diagnostics and as Director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Center for Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Global Health and was the Portfolio Leader for Chronic Disease diagnostics that included both novel in vitro and in-vivo diabetes assays.

Before joining PATH, both at the University of Washington and at Micronics, Inc. (Redmond, Washington, acquired by Sony Corporation of America) where he was a scientific cofounder), Dr. Weigl led teams that invented several key microfluidic devices and developed both instrument-based and stand-alone microfluidic medical diagnostic disposables, including the first FDA-approved instrument-free microfluidic test, the ABORhCard® and provided key contributions to the first microfluidic disposable based flow cytometric hematology analyzer.

Beyond device development his areas of interest include diagnostics-related health systems topics such as more rational diagnostic algorithms, evaluation and selection of the most appropriate diagnostic tool for a particular application using metrics beyond sensitivity and specificity, and patient and customer experience and health-seeking behavior through diagnostic interfaces. He has led projects across the diagnostics value chain, from invention and proof of principle though product introduction and support. Dr. Weigl believes that a patient is the true expert on their own body and health. He is excited about the emerging confluence of new diagnostic tools, big data, and multimodal AI that together will enable patients to make full use of that innate expertise and take a much more active role in their own health care and prevention medicine.

Dr. Weigl received his M.Sc (Mag. rer. nat.) and Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) from Karl-Franzens-University Graz and has completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Southampton and the University of Washington. He has authored more than 140 scientific publications (including in Nature and Science) and is an inventor on over 100 US patents and published patent applications. His work has been cited over 17,000 times by other researchers. Dr. Weigl is also an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Bioengineering.