Category: Funding

The Massachusetts General Hospital received a $464,845 2012 NIH grant to develop a preclinical optical frequency domain angiography instrument. The principal Investigator is Benjamin Vakoc. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2012 and ends in 2017. Below is a summary of the work. Tumor-induced angiogenesis plays a central role in the progression of tumors to malignancy, provides the critical transport of blood-born therapies into the tumor space, and supplies oxygen to effectuate oxygen-dependent radiological and light-based therapies. Pre-clinical research in tumor angiogenesis and tumor microvascular function has traditionally relied on histological methods, which suffer ...

The University of Arizona received a $276,708 2012 NIH grant to study diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer by Confocal Microendoscopy. The principal Investigator is Arthur Gmitro. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2005 and ends in 2014. Below is a summary of the work. The objective of this research is to further develop and clinically validate a real-time multispectral confocal microendoscope for in vivo diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The confocal microendoscope is a new type of instrument for visualizing tissue at the cellular level and has shown great promise for performing optical biopsy. Confocal microendoscopy ...

The University of Iowa won a $526,947 2012 NIH grant to study retinal therapy guided by 3-D Optical Coherence Tomography analysis. The principal Investigator is Milan Sonka. This grant is part of a multi-year project that started in 2010 and ends in 2012. Below is a summary of the work. Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the primary causes of blindness in the U.S. A wealth of powerful new treatments, especially anti-VEGF agents, have recently become available to restore visual function in choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the most severe form of AMD. The risk of ocular adverse ...

Bioptigen received a $1,257,593 Calendar Year 2012 NIH Grant for Pediatric Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography. The project is a four year project that started in 2008 and ends in 2012. Bradley Bower is the PI. Below is a summary of the study. Acquiring diagnostic images of the retina in children is necessary to the prevention and treatment of pediatric eye disease, but it is often difficult due to the large range of eye shapes and sizes from preemies to older children and the inability of most children within this range to focus on an imaging target during ...

Michelson Diagnostics (‘Michelson’) has announced an investment of £607k by shareholders Octopus Investments (‘Octopus’), Catapult Venture Managers (‘Catapult’) and individual investors, especially London Business Angels. The investment, which was an extension to the £1.92M investment in October 2011, will be used to further expand sales & support infrastructure in both USA and Europe, as Michelson’s installed base of ‘VivoSight’ skin cancer laser scanners continues to expand. The Company’s first product based on its patented multi‐beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, the VivoSight scanner, is expected to revolutionise the market for the non‐invasive diagnosis and treatment of ...

A pair of local research projects got a financial boost Monday from the federal government. FedNor Minister Tony Clement announced about $700,000 at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre for two research projects Monday. The first funding announcement revolves around a medical imaging device that will allow surgeons to scan breast tumour tissue that has been removed to ensure all the cancerous tissue was removed. Tornado Medical Systems Inc. will receive a loan of $363,348 to develop a prototype of the device. CEO Stefan Larson said instead of sending the tissue to a lab, the device will ...

Although the federal science and technology budget is expected to shrink in the coming years, one of the largest federal R&D programs should continue to thrive: Congress took action last month to extend the $2.3 billion Small Business Innovation Research program for six years. The SBIR’s reauthorization will increase from 2.5% to 3.2% the amount of money that goes to small businesses from the so-called extramural—that is, externally performed—R&D budgets of 11 federal agencies. But it will also shrink the amount of money available for universities, the major external performers of federal ...

Center Awards $21.2 million to foster job growth in the Massachusetts Life Sciences sectors   The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that the Center’s Board of Directors has awarded $21.2 million in tax incentives to 28 life sciences companies. The recipient companies have committed to creating more than 940 new jobs in the Commonwealth this year. The Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program, established in 2008 as part of the state’s tenyear, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, authorizes up to $25 million in tax incentives each year for companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization ...

The Canadian Government has a program called the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program or SR&ED (referred to as “Shred”). The program is designed to foster high tech R&D in Canada and last year it paid out ~$4B in cash credits to over 18,000 participants. While there are many R&D incentive programs in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, the Canadian SR&ED program seems particularly attractive in that it can often result in a timely cash payment, not just a net deduction against present or future earnings of a company. It can be a ...

  Duke University Received a $221.766 Calendar Year 2012 NIH Grant for Portable Motion Compensated SD-OCT System for Imaging Young Children.  The project is a two year project and Sina Farsiu is the PI.  Below is a summary of the proposed study   Eye diseases of young children, if not detected and treated early, can lead to serious vision loss and even blindness. Currently, retinal diseases in young children are mainly recorded and monitored by color photographs, even though they provide limited information about ophthalmic disease processes and mechanisms. As an alternative to the classic 2-D color photographs, novel spectral domain ...

Avinger, Inc., a medical device manufacturer of innovative, multi-functional catheters for treating patients with Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), announces today the closing of a $22.5 million Series C funding round. All existing major investors participated in the round, with new investors contributing approximately $6 million.   “This round is expected to provide sufficient capital to further US and EU commercialization of Avinger’s Wildcat, Kittycat and Ocelot catheters,” said Kenneth Novack, Chairman of Avinger’s Board of Directors. “It will allow Avinger to continue on the path of developing the most advanced technologies to ease the suffering of people around ...

A University of Texas at Austin engineering professor and a cardiologist from UT Medicine San Antonio have received a $300,000 award to develop a new imaging technique with the potential to predict, or even prevent, heart attacks. Biomedical engineering Professor Thomas E. Milner of the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and his longstanding collaborator Dr. Marc D. Feldman will serve as investigators for the Houston-based Clayton Foundation for Research and receive its ongoing support. Dr. Thomas Milner Milner and Feldman are at the forefront of bringing an imaging technique known as Optical Coherence ...

  MedLumics, a medical imaging diagnostics company specializing in advanced optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, has announced the closing of a 3.5 million Euro/4.7 million USD Series A financing. Led jointly by Ysios Capital Partners and “la Caixa,” through Caixa Capital Risc, the funds will be used to complete the development of the company’s breakthrough imaging diagnostic platform and the recruitment of its executive and technical teams.       “We believe this investment speaks to the exceptional clinical value it will ultimately bring to physicians and patients.”   Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a relatively recent diagnostic imaging modality that ...

HTX today announced it is providing $750,000 in financing to Tornado Medical Systems Inc. through the Technology Acceleration Program to support the commercialization of the tumour Margin Assessment Machine (MAM) - a medical device enabling the assessment of tumour margins during breast cancer surgery. HTX's funding is part of a $3.7 M project which includes funding support from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and in-kind contributions from the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute for development, testing, and clinical studies of the MAM. Accurate tumour margins assessment is critical to confirm all cancerous tissue has been successfully removed ...

Michelson Diagnostics Press Release - Michelson Diagnostics (‘Michelson’) has announced an investment of £1.912 million by shareholders Octopus Investments (‘Octopus’), Catapult Venture Managers (‘Catapult’) and individual investors from London Business Angels. The funds will be used to expand sales & support infrastructure in USA and Europe to respond to growing demand for Michelson’s revolutionary unique laser scanning technology, which can image skin and other surface tissue at a much higher resolution than ever before.   The Company’s first product based on its patented multi-beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, the VivoSight scanner, is expected to revolutionise the market for the ...