Universities are a breeding ground for innovation, but in order for those innovations to benefit the public, they must progress beyond the theoretical or prototype level — which requires adequate funding. A promising development was recently announced in California: Five teams of scientists from the University of California and a Southern California hospital have been awarded up to $100,000 to help commercialize their up-and-coming medical technologies. Across the board, the ideas fit into the trend of lower-cost, preventive health care. Let's take a look at the winners.

  1. GPU and Cloud-based Next Generation Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment Planning (UC San Diego Departments of Radiation and Oncology and Computer Science and Engineering): A web-based treatment planning system that aims to reduce the cost of treatment planning and improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy devices.
  2. Microscopy on a Cell Phone as a Diagnostic Tool (UCLA): Called LUCAS, this lens-free, on-chip imaging modality enables converting conventional cell phones into microscopes and diagnostic tools, useful for various rural and inner city medicine needs.
  3. Low-Cost Semiconductor Test Strips for Accurate In Vitro Diagnostics (UCLA): A project that seeks to exploit a low-cost, nanoengineered sensor technology for rapid, point-of-care diagnosis of acute diseases in critical settings and doctor's offices, that has been shown to be 10 times more sensitive than the leading nanoelectronic sensors for detecting evidence of long-term cardiac injury in blood samples.
  4. Integrated Heart Failure Disease Management (UC Irvine and Mission Hospital): A disease management system that is a user-friendly device to allow doctors to receive wireless updates about the condition of their patients, such as whether they are accumulating fluid in their chests. Meant to cut down the rate of readmission for heart failure patients, who currently have a 25 to 30 percent readmission rate in the first 30 days after discharge.
  5. Mobile Mandometer for At-Home Weight Normalization (UC Irvine): The team is working to develop a more affordable, portable device that can communicate wirelessly with smart phones. The device is a small scale that sits under a dinner plate sends information about the user's eating behavior to a small monitor, helping users to normalize their eating pattern.

The commercialization grant program is part of UC San Diego's von Liebig Center's Southern California Healthcare Technology Acceleration Program, sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click here for more details. 

Topics:
Diagnostics Medical Patient Monitoring Sensors