Could High Frequency Monitoring Transform Autoimmune Care? Kavya Swaminathan

In this episode of Diagnosing Dx, David Filby is joined by Kavya Swaminathan, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Kascaid.

An immunologist and proteomics scientist by training, Kavya has spent her career studying immune dysregulation and biomarker discovery. That experience led to Kascaid and a fundamental question: can we understand chronic immune disease better by measuring what is happening far more frequently?

Kavya explains why the company is turning to interstitial fluid (ISF) as an alternative to traditional blood sampling, and how higher-frequency immune measurements could help clinicians understand treatment response, detect disease changes earlier and move away from today’s trial-and-error approach to care.

We also discuss Kascaid’s plans for at-home sampling, its longer-term ambition to build a longitudinal immune data layer, and how partnerships with patients and clinicians are shaping the product from the earliest stages.

Key takeaways:
🔹 Why chronic immune disease needs more frequent and actionable biomarker data
🔹 The limitations Kavya sees in conventional blood-based immune measurements
🔹 Why interstitial fluid could enable higher-frequency monitoring
🔹 How Kascaid is initially focusing on treatment response and disease progression
🔹 Why longitudinal immune data could eventually support earlier diagnosis and more precise treatment

Chapters:
01:07 Introduction
02:43 Kavya’s journey from immunology to diagnostics
07:08 Kascaid and the chronic immune disease problem
10:39 Why interstitial fluid instead of traditional blood testing?
15:06 Monitoring treatment response more frequently
19:26 Building a longitudinal immune data layer
25:05 Company milestones, partnerships and early validation
32:40 FDA, reimbursement and the path to market

Guest: Kavya Swaminathan, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO, Kascaid
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavya-swaminathan/

Host: David Filby
Founder and CEO of Elevra Consulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfilby/

🔔 Subscribe to Diagnosing Dx for weekly conversations with leaders shaping the future of diagnostics and omics.