Eldin Rostom is the CEO and Co-Founder of Diag-Nose.io, a Melbourne based company improving clinical management and drug discovery for chronic respiratory diseases.
How did Diag-nose.io come about?
Diag-Nose.io started from something personal. I was born with Toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic disease that can affect the brain and eyes. My childhood in Mauritius meant nights in hospital, missed school, and long stretches of uncertainty.
What shaped me even more was watching my parents carry the weight of it. My father sleeping upright in plastic chairs next to me and my mother was always juggling appointments, paperwork, and prayers, holding life together while I was being treated. It is hard to watch the people you love suffer alongside you. That stays with you.
I saw how broken care can be when access is limited and treatments fail. If there was a way to stop others from going through what I did, I wanted to find it.
I studied engineering at Curtin University, worked across several medtech startups, and was selected for a short program at Stanford Biodesign. That was a turning point. With my co-founders, three world-class ENT surgeons, we focused on one of the most overlooked areas in medicine: respiratory disease. One in three Australians are affected and thousands of deaths happen every year that should not. I related even more because I also live with asthma.
Our unique insight was simple; respiratory patients may look the same clinically, but biologically they are not. Without understanding the biology and building blocks of life, like RNA and proteins, we cannot predict who will respond to which treatment. Diag-Nose.io was built to change that.
What is your why?
I believe in science as a force for good, to break through cycles of sickness and healthcare inequality. Back then, I remember seeing other children in hospital far worse off than me. Some could not walk, some could not speak. I was one of the lucky ones. Despite partial blindness, seizures, and neurological issues, I was able to study and pursue science. That gave me a sense of responsibility. I had to give back. I have been given the chance to build tools that can change outcomes for others.
My strength is in translating complexity. I can move between science, medicine, and business and keep the message clear. That is where real innovation happens.
At the core, it is about helping people get the right treatment faster so they can breathe easier, live longer, and get back to living.
What could Diagnose achieve in the future?
Our big mission, the moonshot, is to eliminate respiratory disease forever.
We are building it in stages.
- Firstly, we’re working with pharmaceutical companies and researchers to better understand why therapies work or fail.
- Secondly, we’re building diagnostic tools that help doctors personalise care and reduce treatment failures.
- And then use the data to discover new lifesaving medicines to reverse or even prevent chronic inflammatory diseases like asthma, altogether.
We are not there yet. But every step moves us closer.
What role has Breakthrough Victoria played?
Breakthrough Victoria has been a game changer. Their investment helped us build our lab, grow our team, and scale our research. We now have scientists, engineers, and biostatisticians working side by side in Victoria, and we are actively expanding.
But they bring more than capital. They believe patient-driven, science-first companies are how you tackle big problems like healthcare, climate, and food security. That is exactly how we see the world.
Their due diligence process was intense and made us sharper. It also gave us credibility that made raising the rest of our round much easier. Their support allows us to build a platform that can transform respiratory care like never before.
