Biomedical Pain-source Detector Seen As Potentially Revolutionary

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Biomedical Pain-source Detector Seen As Potentially Revolutionary

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=66987

s Institute of Technology and Connecticut Innovations (CI),

the state's quasi-public authority responsible for technology

investing and innovation development, today announced that they had

completed an agreement for a seed-stage investment of $500,000 in

s Proof of Concept Inc. (SPOC), a Technogenesis® Company

founded at s Institute of Technology. CI made this investment

through its Connecticut BioSeed Fund.

SPOC was formed in July 2005 at s by Vice President Helena S.

Wisniewski in the Office of University Research and Enterprise

Development, along with Dr. Norman Marcus, a leader in pain

management, and a team of s undergraduate students in

biomedical engineering. SPOC has developed a proprietary point-of-

care medical diagnostic system, consisting of a medical device and

methodology that pinpoint the specific myofascial (muscle) trigger

points causing pain. The patent pending device is the first use of

electroneural stimulation for diagnostic purposes.

SPOC's diagnostic system will benefit patients by helping to

eliminate treatments that prove to be ineffective, such as surgical

procedures, and by allowing physicians to locate and treat more

effectively muscles that generate pain.

Since approximately 100 million people in the United States suffer

from chronic pain and approximately 80 percent of Americans suffer

from some form of pain in their lifetime, the potential market for

such a system is enormous.

" SPOC's diagnostic device is disruptive - it will revolutionize neck

and back pain diagnosis and treatment practices, " said Dr.

Wisniewski, who launched SPOC and serves as a member of the board.

Wisniewski added, " We are very pleased to enter into a relationship

with CI, an organization committed to commercializing technologies

for the public good, which is aligned with s' Technogenesis

paradigm. "

SPOC's CEO, Dr. Vikki Hazelwood, said, " The entrepreneurial

environment within s has fostered a very successful

collaboration between s' Biomedical Engineers and Dr. Marcus.

Now, with the financial support from CI, I am confident that we have

extremely solid footing upon which we can commercialize the

product. "

" We are very excited to be investing in a company that has developed

a tool that allows for a revolution in the accuracy and precision of

muscle pain diagnosis, " said Longo, executive vice president

and chief investment officer of Connecticut Innovations. " And we are

delighted that the management of SPOC, whose technology was

developed at the s Institute of Technology in New Jersey, has

decided to locate the company in Connecticut. " Longo added, " We hope

that SPOC's diagnostic tool will become as common as the stethoscope

and that all doctors will carry one in their pocket. "