Graduating entrepreneur ready to take Biolum mobile asthma management device to next level

DALLAS (SMU) – Edward Allegra started his SMU journey as a biology major, thinking he wanted to become a physician. But during his sophomore year, when he began attending meetings of the SMU Entrepreneurship Club, everything changed.

Medical school is no longer in the picture, but Allegra will be graduating from SMU May 14 with degrees in biology and economics, already hard at work marketing a mobile health device for asthma diagnosis and management he developed with a team of SMU students.  The imaging system can signal the presence and severity of an asthma attack by detecting and quantifying the disease biomarkers in exhaled breath. The BioLum Sciences (Allegra’s company) app allows users to test their symptoms, monitor daily progress, and understand the cause of their asthma.

Allegra thinks the technology has the potential to reduce the current 40 percent misdiagnosis of asthma in the United States. And as someone who has experienced asthma first-hand, Allegra knows how important that could be.

“We have a lot planned for the summer and look to finalize our product design while establishing a clinical trial with a local asthma and allergy center,” Allegra said.

Allegra says the BioLum success story started with a friend in the Entrepreneurship Club who first told him about the research for the asthma-screening device in SMU’s Chemistry Department. “This was the moment that would change my life forever and send me down the path I am on now,” Allegra said. “Without that moment my life would be completely different.”

Allegra became the spokesperson for BioLum after winning the SMU Pitch Contest in 2014, which led to winning the University’s  Business Plan Competition in 2015. 

By 2016, there was no stopping Allegra and team members Miguel Quimbar and Jack Reynolds.  After they won the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Dallas regional competition, one of the judges spoke about Allegra’s dynamic presentation:

“He passionately communicated why he started his business, what his purpose was in the world, which was to solve this affliction that he had and how he could turn that into a business through entrepreneurship,” said Rick Sapio, CEO of Mutual Capital Alliance, Inc. “I thought it was brilliant!”

Not only does Allegra know what he will be doing in the months following graduation, he knows exactly where he wants to be in 10 years.

“I see myself being a pioneer in biotech…continuing to revolutionize the way different diseases and illnesses are diagnosed and managed,” Allegra said. “My company will be a well-recognized brand that provides affordable medical solutions for the world.”

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