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DNA MEDICINE INSTITUTE AWARDED TWO DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTS FROM NASA FOR REMOTE MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT
CAMBRIDGE, MA (JULY 23, 2012) – DNA Medicine Institute (DMI), a multidisciplinary technology company advancing diagnostic and medical tools to enhance health, announced today that the company had been awarded two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) totaling $1.1 million. The Phase IIE and Phase III contracts were awarded to develop the company’s rHEALTH sensor for future space medicine research and clinical applications. The contracts were awarded based on competitive work done as part of NASA’s SBIR program.
“These new contracts will allow DMI to build on the earlier clinical and other data accrued during zero- and low-g simulation flights aboard a NASA aircraft, and also extend our relationship with NASA and its partners,” said Eugene Chan, MD, Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of DMI.
“We anticipate that these awards, and other support provided by NASA, will make possible a handheld version of a hospital clinical laboratory that will prove invaluable to the future of space flight, as well as biomedical research and health monitoring on the International Space Station. DMI’s technology will likely have medical and environmental applications in remote locations, such as the field and villages–and those not so remote, such as hospitals, physician offices, and homes–all here on Earth.”
DMI is leveraging proprietary nanoscale diagnostic technologies that can enable whole health analysis in droplet-sized samples of blood and other fluids. DMI’s rHEALTH sensor has been identified by NASA as a prospective technological approach for performing blood and urine analysis on the International Space Station. Rather than relying on ground-based analysis, NASA is promoting the development of medical technologies that can provide comprehensive on-orbit analysis capabilities.
“NASA is always pleased when SBIR award winners are able to find success, both within NASA as well as in the commercial market,” said Rich Leshner, SBIR program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
