Sonia Trigueros, Founder, NIVD World
Breakthroughs don’t always start with ambition. Sometimes, they begin with discomfort, the kind that lingers when ideas stall behind closed doors. Discovery is one thing; delivery is another. The space between the lab and real life is often crowded with delays, doubts, and systems slow to adapt. But time and again, a true visionary refuses to wait for the barrier to close itself and chooses to clear a path instead. One such visionary is Sonia Trigueros: a researcher turned entrepreneur who founded NIVD from Nano In Vitro Diagnostics to carry breakthrough discoveries beyond the lab and into the hands of doctors, patients, and communities.
Her fascination with science wasn’t lit by a single spark; it was a slow, steady current that ran through her earliest memories, drawing her to the unseen mechanics of the world. While others stopped at “how,” she always pressed on to ask, “what next?” Innovation came as second nature to her, an impulse to improve, redesign, and push boundaries. But as her work in nanomedicine advanced, so did a growing tension: discoveries were being made, yet they stalled at the edge of application. She came to realise that while academia excelled at discovery, it often fell short in driving tangible outcomes. Rather than waiting for systems to catch up, she stepped off the sidelines. NIVD became her way of turning science into something tangible, something that could reach patients, not just publications.
Where Breakthroughs Stalled, She Built a Bridge
The idea for NIVD didn’t arrive overnight. Sonia’s passion for NIVD stems from her experience witnessing essential basic research in academia that rarely translates into real-world patient benefits. She believes that science must go beyond published findings to create a tangible impact in patients’ lives.”
That conviction deepened during one of her trips to Africa, where she witnessed the cost of missed diagnoses in under-resourced clinics. These weren’t untreatable cases; they were simply diagnosed too late. “We could have detected this much earlier,” she reflects. That experience left a lasting impression. Four years later, at the Arab Health Conference in Dubai, the pieces came together.
Surrounded by clinicians and global innovators, she recognized what academia often lacked: a viable path to real-world implementation.. A startup, she realized, could serve as the missing link, nimble, focused, and outcome-driven. NIVD became that vehicle. She began building the foundation for NIVD, driven by a clear need she had witnessed not just in Africa, but across healthcare systems around the world. In frontier fields like nanomedicine, the pace of research had outstripped the system’s ability to implement it. Waiting was no longer an option. The need was urgent, the gap was real. And this time, she chose not to wait for change, she decided to lead it.
Precision in Motion
What sets NIVD’s nanosensors apart isn’t just what they detect, it’s how they function. NIVD-technology operates, enabling seamless integration across diagnostic platforms and true Point-of-Care environments. The team designed the platform with one guiding principle: accessibility. “We created them not for the lab, but for life,” she states. Built on the principles of quantum physics rather than biological scaffolds, the sensors eliminate the need for bioreactors, incubation, or temperature control. They are low-cost, highly scalable, and exceptionally fast. Operating at nanometric precision and terahertz speeds, they detect reactions in under a minute. No waiting. No specialized equipment. Results appear instantly, making the technology practical for use in surgeries, ICUs, mobile clinics, and even home-care settings.
Though NIVD’s current focus is sepsis, where every minute counts, the platform is designed to adapt. It holds vast potential across infectious, autoimmune, and oncological diseases. By eliminating unnecessary complexity, the NIVD team is redefining what fast, accessible, precision diagnostics can look like in real-world conditions.
Wearing Every Hat and Holding the Door Open
In industries still governed by tradition, leading a high-tech healthcare company as a woman demands more than expertise; it demands edge and unshakable resolve. Sonia has learned to make space where none is given. “Early on, that meant proving she could wear every hat: researcher, fundraiser, strategist, communicator. Over time, she built a team that sees her for her capabilities, not her gender. Internally, inclusion has never been an issue. Today, NIVD’s leadership team is nearly 50-50, a balance driven by mindset. “Innovation filters people. It’s not about gender, it’s about being comfortable with uncertainty,” she adds.
She leads by hiring people unafraid of ambiguity, rewarding initiative, and building a culture that’s resilient by design. Delegation is vital, but so is diving into the unknown. Emotional self-awareness, clarity under pressure, and a trusted network remain her anchors. “Things rarely work the first time. You learn to fail forward,” she expresses. In a field defined by urgency and complexity, Sonia moves with purpose because standing still was never an option.
From Lab Bench to Global Impact
Sonia sees the path ahead with clarity and commitment, expanding the science and forging the partnerships needed to bring it to the world. NIVD’s next chapter includes co-development agreements that can accelerate clinical access and global reach. “The technology keeps improving, but the real breakthrough comes when it reaches the bedside,” she notes.
For her, legacy isn’t personal, it’s practical. It’s a world where early diagnostics are dignified, deployable, and within reach, regardless of borders. Her advice to young women in science and health innovation is both bold and grounded: “Do it. But don’t do it alone.”
She believes curiosity is only half the equation; collaboration makes it last. As she continues to build, Sonia measures success not by headlines, but by the lives she empowers. From idea to impact, her journey reminds us that transformation doesn’t require leaps; it demands forward steps, especially when you refuse to stand still.