Dr. Darrell Marshall Is Building Tech That Stops Infections Before They Start
“Detroit biotech founder Dr. Darrell Marshall turned a family health crisis into rapid pathogen-detection technology — and proof that nontraditional founders belong in biotech.”
In June 2021, Dr. Darrell D Marshall's grandfather was hospitalized after a head injury and acquired an infection while receiving care. Watching his family absorb that reality, Marshall reached a conclusion that has driven every decision since: reacting after an infection appears is not enough. The technology to prevent it has to come first.
Dr. Darrell D Marshall is the Co-Founder and CEO of Total Analysis, based in Detroit. He describes his arc with precision: he is becoming who he was born to be by building technology that protects loved ones from invisible threats that cause infectious disease.
According to the CDC, approximately 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections occur in U.S. hospitals every year, resulting in roughly 99,000 deaths annually, at a cost of $28–$45 billion per year. Roughly one-third of Detroit residents live below the federal poverty line. Current pathogen-detection methods often take days to return results — Total Analysis is building Helios-1, a rapid, onsite detection platform designed to identify threats in minutes.
No established investor network for a nontraditional biotech founder from Detroit. Limited access to capital. A notoriously slow adoption cycle for new biotechnology in healthcare and agriculture.
After the hospital room in June 2021, Marshall began asking frontline healthcare workers where delayed pathogen detection caused the most harm — methodical, not dramatic.
More than 50 customer and industry interviews (self-reported) before a prototype existed. The first Helios-1 unit was built and tested in 2024, with support from the NSF Small Business Innovation Research program, Newlab, Wayne State University, and Black Tech Saturdays.
Since founding in 2023: $420,000 in non-dilutive funding confirmed (including NSF SBIR support), $120,000 in dilutive funding raised, $32,000 in paid pilot revenue, 50+ customer and industry interviews completed (all self-reported).
The fewer problems people hear about because of Total Analysis's work, the better the job has been done. When a nontraditional founder from Detroit builds a biotech company without an existing investor network, it changes the geometry of what's possible for every founder who comes next.
Total Analysis is asking for reach — share it with a hospital administrator, public health official, investor, or peer in agriculture/food safety.
