MDC Signs SBIR Contract with the Defense Health Agency

MDC is pleased to announce a new contract with the Defense Health Agency for the design and development of non-contact ultrasound scanner. Under the $250,000 Phase I SBIR contract MDC will design, build, and test a compact, handheld device for ultrasound scanning without direct contact with the human body.

The new device is intended for field use by military medics to provide a portable imaging capability for diagnosis of wounds at the point on injury. A key application is the diagnosis and treatment of burn wounds, where contact with the wound tissue could be extremely painful.

In the 6 month Phase I project MDC will design and implement a standoff excitation device and a detector and test the system ex vivo and in vivo with animals (swine). The Phase I goal is to provide a prototype that confirms function and the potential to reduce the size to the target handheld form factor.

As the project develops, MDC will consider transition of the technology to the MDC portfolio company, Surgical Vision Systems, a startup company formed by MDC Partners Jonathan Pearl, Gil Blankenship, and Stephen Restaino created to focus on advanced imaging applications in surgery and casualty care.

“This project is very challenging on a technical level. If we are successful, it will produce a truly novel capability, valuable not only for the military at various roles of care, but also for civilian emergency response units. We are pleased to be working the DHA on this important project. Garrett Wenger and Stephen Restaino will be the technical leads on the project,” said Dr. Gil Blankenship Founder of MDC.

About the MDC Studio

The MDC Studio is the operational unit of the Maryland Development Center Partnership, which was founded in 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. MDC Studio functions as a MedTech Startup Studio that provides engineering support, business development services, and funding to create and support companies commercializing medical devices. The Studio works with inventors to develop their ideas into working prototypes and marketable products and form companies that will grow and create value for both their shareholders and all of society. MDC Studio Baltimore is located in the historic Wilkens-Robins building in the heart of Baltimore, near the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins University where MDC’s founding partners and affiliates practice, teach, and research state of the art surgery and medicine.