The final fireside Chat of BioBuzz’s Off the Record event—hosted at the EMINENT Life Sciences Campus in Frederick, Maryland—spotlighted a critical, often overlooked intersection in biotech: the role of dual-use technologies in bridging military and civilian healthcare.
In a conversation moderated by BioBuzz CEO Chris Frew, Dr. Stephen Halal, Vice President of R&D at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF), and Dr. Mustafa Al-Adhami, CEO of Astek Diagnostics, shared insights on how early-stage technologies can serve both commercial and defense markets. Their discussion offered founders a roadmap to unlock new capital streams, partnerships, and purpose—if approached with the right strategy and storytelling.
Key Highlights
Why Dual Use Matters
Dr. Stephen Halal emphasized the significant opportunity for early-stage companies to align with the Defense Health Agency (DHA), which allocated over $1.3 billion for R&D in FY25. But funding, he noted, doesn’t just follow innovation—it follows usability.
“Devices are the lowest-hanging fruit for dual use,” Halal said. “Think about who will use it, how much power it needs, and how portable it is.”
He encouraged founders to evaluate where their technologies might fit within the military’s “roles of care” system—a four-tier framework used to determine the deployment setting of medical interventions.
“Role of care one is right on the front line—the medic. Role of care four is a brick-and-mortar hospital,” he explained. “So one of the questions you have to ask is: where does your technology apply? The biggest funding opportunities are for technologies that can be used at the lower echelons—Role 1 or Role 2 care.”
In these early treatment zones, usability and ruggedness matter just as much as innovation.
“Think about your product, the concept of operations, how it would be deployed, who would use it. Is it a medic? A physician? A nurse practitioner? Could it even be self-administered with something like an auto-injector?” Halal added.
These practical considerations are often what distinguish fundable ideas from field-ready solutions in the defense space. Technologies that are easy to operate, energy efficient, and built for frontline conditions have a much stronger chance of gaining traction—and investment—within the military healthcare system.
Unlocking Military medicine through strategic partnerships
“As a founder, I started thinking of the military as a potential customer. Once you talk to them, you learn their pain points—and you realize your technology might solve more problems than you thought.”
— Dr. Mustafa Al-Adhami,
For Dr. Mustafa Al-Adhami, the journey to dual-use innovation began with a personal loss. After watching his grandfather suffer from a poorly treated urinary tract infection—enduring delirium, failed antibiotics, and a rapid decline in health—he was driven to create a faster, more effective diagnostic solution.
“I watched him go from a young 87-year-old to a much, much older one within days,” Al-Adhami recalled. “That’s why we started the company.” — Dr. Mustafa Al-Adhami,
Astek’s breakthrough came when Al-Adhami attended an HJF-hosted expo and realized that the same diagnostic problem plaguing civilian hospitals also existed on the battlefield.
“We learned the military had a similar issue, and that’s when we repurposed one of our tests to see if it could address that,” he explained.
“Lo and behold, it became a dual-use technology.”
By listening to the military as a customer and understanding the unique operational context—such as who would administer the test and under what conditions—Astek was able to adapt their product for Role 2 military care settings and secure over $1 million in non-dilutive government funding.
Innovation Needs Infrastructure
Building a dual-use biotech company doesn’t just require a breakthrough technology—it requires access to the right infrastructure, funding channels, and strategic networks.
Dr. Stephen Halal emphasized that one of the best ways to navigate the dual-use space is to connect early with the right partners.
“If you are interested in dual-use technology, please seek out a foundation or another company that’s working in that field to get connected,” he advised. “Just like in the military, dual use is a network.”
He encouraged founders to attend MHSRS (Military Health System Research Symposium), calling it the most valuable event for meeting decision-makers, understanding federal priorities, and evaluating potential funding streams.
“If you can only go to one place a year to understand the military medical landscape, this is it. You’ll get to talk to the senior military leaders who actually manage portfolios of products,” Halal said. “It’s a great return on investment.”
In addition to networking, Dr. Halal shared that HJF is actively investing in physical infrastructure to support dual-use innovation. Backed by $1.2 million in combined funding from the State of Maryland and Montgomery County, HJF is launching a dedicated startup ecosystem in Bethesda focused entirely on advancing military medical technologies.
“We’re building out our wet lab space at HJF’s Bethesda headquarters to house 9 to 10 startups with dual-use products,” he announced. “We’ll have educational programs, regulatory training, funding opportunities—including a venture fund—and everything you’d expect from an ecosystem, but ours is focused on military medicine.” – Dr. Stephen Halal
By creating a space where innovators can access lab facilities, funding, and expert mentorship, HJF is laying the foundation for Maryland to become a national leader in dual-use biotech.
Telemedicine & Remote Diagnostics Remain High Priorities
While the battlefield presents unique constraints, both speakers emphasized that many of the needs in military medicine mirror those in civilian healthcare—particularly in the areas of telehealth, remote diagnostics, and medical decision support.
Dr. Halal pointed out that battlefield medics and rural healthcare providers face similar challenges: limited access to specialists, high-stakes triage decisions, and the need for real-time support in unstable environments.
He encouraged founders to consider how their technologies could operate at a distance—especially in situations where providers may not be experts in trauma or infection management.
“Let’s say there’s a family practice doctor downrange treating a thoracic gunshot wound,” Halal said. “He may need to call a friend to help with that injury. That’s where telemedicine still plays a critical role.”
Remote monitoring, real-time diagnostics, and simplified tools that can be used by medics or patients themselves remain key funding priorities—especially for Role 1 and 2 care environments where time and accessibility are limited.
As the final conversation of Off the Record made clear, dual-use innovation isn’t just about adapting science for new settings—it’s about building bridges between missions, markets, and people. With growing infrastructure, intentional partnerships, and a renewed focus on real-world impact, Maryland is well-positioned to lead the future of military and civilian health innovation.
