A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Centice (Durham, North Carolina) reported that Newport (Irvine, California), which focuses on spectroscopy instruments, has selected the company's Multimodal Multiplex Spectroscopy (MMS) technology for its new spectrometer platform.

Newport said it would be the first company to offer a UV-Vis spectrometer based on Centice's MMS technology – a breakthrough spectrometer design that simultaneously samples 500 optical channels through a wide area aperture instead of a through a narrow slit, as with conventional designs.

Centice, a 2004 spin-off from Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), licenses optical sensing technology developed at the university under grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH; Bethesda, Maryland) and DARPA (Ft. Detrick, Maryland) for tissue spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging.

Centice works to leverage this technology with its expertise in instrument design to produce a portfolio of optical sensing modules for the analytical, life sciences, medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Ocean Optics (Dunedin, Florida), focused on providing spectroscopy solutions, together with Centice, also reported an agreement under which Ocean Optics will add to its spectroscopy portfolio through the co-branding and distribution of Centice's MMS-based Raman spectrometer system.

Wyndgate Technologies (Denver), a division of Global Med Technologies, reported that Dameron Hospital (Stockton, California) has purchased the SafeTrace Tx transfusion management system. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The purchase was developed in collaboration with Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, Pennsylvania).

"There were many considerations in choosing to replace our existing transfusion service system with Wyndgate's SafeTrace Tx information system," said Richard Wong, administrative director of the clinical laboratory at Dameron. "[T]he system is integrated with Siemens Novius Lab. Another consideration particular to SafeTrace Tx was its Patient-At-A-Glance Bar safety feature, which displays special transfusion requirements, antibodies, history of transfusion reactions, and the availability of current specimens or autologous donations."

Wyndgate provides information management systems to U.S. and international blood centers and hospital transfusion centers.

In other grants/contracts news:

• Precision Dynamics (PDC; San Fernando, California), which focuses on automatic wristband identification, reported the successful implementation of its automated bar code system for glucose testing to reduce patient and lab identification errors in the emergency triage unit at Houston Healthcare (Warner Robins, Georgia).

The point-of-care bar code system consists of PDC ScanBand Wristbands, bar code printers, hand-held glucose meters, and a laboratory information system.

During the first three months of implementation, Houston reduced patient identification errors by more than 30% using the PDC system, the company said.

• Paving the way for its entry into the molecular imaging market, VisualSonics (Toronto), a developer of high-resolution, ultrasound-based, in vivo micro-imaging systems, reported it is in-licensing a contrast agent for the quantification of myocardial perfusion in preclinical studies from the University of Virginia (Charlottesville).

The contrast agent will be sold under the trademark Depo.

• Biophan Technologies (West Henrietta, New York), a developer of "next-generation" biomedical technology, said that it has joined as a senior member the Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center at the University of Southern California (USC/BMES ERC; Los Angeles), in a collaboration to revolutionize biomedical devices including through development and integration of Biophan's proprietary innovations.

The partnership gives Biophan access to the USC/BMES ERC's "world-class" research facilities, the company said. Biophan will contribute its expertise in advanced medical device enhancement technologies to collaborate with the USC center. Research will focus on the development of new medical device solutions, including the application of Biophan's technologies to make medical devices MRI-safe and/or image compatible. Many implantable medical devices are currently contraindicated for use with MRI.

Through an initial $17 million grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; Arlington, Virginia), the USC/BMES ERC has been established to advance the education, research, and commercialization of biomedical devices that can dramatically improve the quality of life for patients with debilitating diseases.

Applied Imaging retains Aquilo Partners

Applied Imaging (San Jose, California) reported that the company has retained investment bank Aquilo Partners (San Francisco) to assist management in exploring strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.

The company said it believes that now is an "opportune time" to launch such an initiative, given the resolution in 2005 of outstanding legacy corporate issues, enhancement of the financial and operating performance of its core businesses, and further development of its CTC Inc. subsidiary.

Applied Imaging is a supplier of automated imaging and image analysis systems for the detection and characterization of chromosomes and molecular markers in genetics and pathology applications.