A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Xilas Medical (San Antonio) reported that it has been selected by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (Houston) to receive a $1 million grant award.

Xilas agrees to expedite the commercialization of its family of medical device products for the diagnosis and prevention of foot-related problems pertaining to people with diabetes. More than 100 companies went through the proposal process in applying for the grant and Xilas is one of eight who were selected to receive the award.

The TempTouch is an infrared thermometer that has been proven effective in three National Institutes of Health clinical trials. The device is used at home by a person with diabetes to detect and prevent ulceration before it develops and potentially leads to amputation.

"Receiving this grant says a great deal not only about our technology and products that we are bringing to market, but its potential impact on helping to improve the lives of those who suffer from diabetes while reducing the cost of delivering medical and social services to these high risk individuals," said Don Lawson, Xilas CEO.

Xilas also will initiate a program to identify and distribute 1,000 of its TempTouch dermal thermometers per year for each of the next five years to high-risk Texas Medicaid citizens with diabetes. This program will be managed in collaboration with the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio), which has a network of clinics that operate as a part of the university training program.

In contract news: IRIS International (Chatsworth, California), a manufacturer of automated IVD urinalysis systems and medical devices used in hospitals and clinical reference laboratories, reported entered into a contract with the Mayo Foundation for the company's line of products, including the iQ200 System and iQ Body Fluids Module.

Under terms of the four-year contract, which carries a one-year extension option, the Mayo Clinic will use iQ200 Systems and iQ Body Fluids Modules, consumable products, reagents and service agreements at its outpatient and inpatient facilities in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona. Mayo provides clinical care to more than half a million people annually.

Large medical and clinical laboratories require high-throughput analyzers with an extensive, highly accurate and flexible test menu due to time pressures, extensive workloads and stringent clinical requirements," said Cesar Garcia, president and CEO of IRIS. "The iQ200 high-speed analyzers are designed to meet these needs with fully automated walk-away capability and clinical data consolidation directly to the laboratory information system."

IRIS's newest generation iQ200 Automated Urine Microscopy Analyzer, utilizing image flow cytometry, patented flow microscope technology and neural network-based particle recognition, is designed to reduce the cost- and time-consuming steps involved in manual microscopic analysis. The company's Sample Processing business unit (Westwood, Massachusetts and formerly the StatSpin subsidiary) manufactures centrifuges and blood analysis products. Advanced Digital Imaging Research (Houston) is the company's imaging R&D subsidiary.