Devices & Diagnostics

Medical device firm Bioptigen lands $2.7M SBIR grant

Medical device company Bioptigen has received a $2.7 million federal grant that will be used […]

Medical device company Bioptigen has received a $2.7 million federal grant that will be used to research applications of its optical imaging technology in pediatrics.

The 27-month grant comes from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Bioptigen has developed and brought to market an ophthalmic imaging device that can gives doctors a better way to see images of the inner areas of the eye. Bioptigen’s system uses a technology called optical coherence tomography, which the company says can provide resolution 100 times finer than ultrasound.

“Children have unique eye care needs,” Bioptigen president and CEO Dr. Eric Buckland said in a prepared statement. “It is both exciting and satisfying to work on imaging tailored to the developing eye. Our objective is to provide researchers and clinicians with the comprehensive, mobile imaging they require to properly view and manage pediatric eye disease.”

The phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research grant was awarded to investigate Bioptigen’s technologies as a portable imaging device that could be used in researching, diagnosing and treating childhood eye diseases. The company’s goal is to bring its imaging capabilities to premature and neonatal infants with a hand-held device.

Bioptigen was founded in 2004 based on technology developed at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. The company’s eye imaging devices are currently used by doctors for noninvasive imaging of the eye.

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