A spin-off of CrestOptics, an Italian company that produces advanced fluorescence microscopy solutions and systems and diagnostic applications, DTails specializes in cancer research, focusing on breast and prostate cancer and Alzheimer's disease. By the end of 2023, the company's goal is to develop solutions for the early diagnosis of diseases through minimally invasive examinations that are easily accessible to the masses.

Tumour diagnosis is entrusted to a diagnostic kit for urine tests (like those now in use for COVID or pregnancy tests) that uses a transgenic microorganism of its own devising, with sensitivity to volatile metabolites superior to all currently available instrumental tests. The project starts by observing the peculiar reaction of C. elegans (a tiny nematode often used as a model by the scientific community) when exposed to VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) from human urine. The DTails project aims to find an innovative approach that still uses the same VOCs detected by C. elegans without the use of nematodes and makes the test easy for any traditional laboratory performing 'normal' analyses.

The diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease stem from the idea of detecting and monitoring the development of certain specific protein aggregates (TAU to Beta Amyloid) through observation of the retina, which, as is well known in the scientific literature, has the same accumulations of protein aggregates that can be observed in the brain. The possibility of monitoring these aggregates by measuring their changes over time can be a powerful tool for assessing the effects of new therapies for both the pharmaceutical industry and institutions researching Alzheimer's disease.

DTails' research activities are carried out in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology, with which an agreement was signed, resulting in the JointLab research project where fourteen researchers are employed. Thirty people work in DTails.

To date, the startup has filed six patents (four on cancer research, two on Alzheimer's research), and there are more in the process of filing.