| INTRODUCTION | |
| Where the Technology Investment Begins | |
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| CDX LABORATORIES | |
| Adding an Ounce of Prevention for Oral Health | |
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| ADVANCED BIOPHOTONICS | |
| Analyzing Tissue Health, Non-invasively | |
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| SPECTRAL DIM. MALVERN INST. | |
| Aiding Quality Control for Pharmaceuticals | |
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| CELSION CORPORATION | |
| Targeting Deep Tumors with Microwaves | |
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| KESTREL CORPORATION | |
| Visualizing the Molecular Makeup of the Eye | |
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| CONCLUSION | |
| Technology Transfer Every Day | |
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Where the Technology Investment Begins
In the years since the Missile Defense Agency’s inception as the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), numerous technologies have evolved both within and alongside efforts to construct an advanced, intelligent missile shield. Many areas of endeavor have benefited indirectly from MDA’s substantial investment in materials sciences, photonics, adaptive optics, and hyperspectral imaging. In the past, MDA has reported on how these technologies have been adapted into various commercial areas such as telecommunications, homeland security, and emergency response.  |
Adding an Ounce of Prevention for Oral Health
The Technology
Neural Networks
The Missile Defense Connection
Far back in the SDIO days, Mark Rutenberg originated a set of neural network algorithms that were used for discriminating target from clutter in missile defense applications.
The Commercial Application
Rutenberg later adapted these algorithms into a computer-aided diagnosis technology called PapNet, a Pap smear screening method for the detection of cervical cancer (now known as Focal Point® and marketed by another company). In 1997, Rutenberg founded his own company, CDx Laboratories (Suffern, NY), and applied those same imaging algorithms to another cellular problem: distinguishing oral cancers from nonmalignant lesions with a lightly penetrating diagnostic tool. |
Analyzing Tissue Health, Non-invasively
The Technology
Infrared Imaging
The Missile Defense Connection
Back when MDA was known as BMDO, it helped fund the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, in the development of imaging cameras for ground- and space-based infrared surveillance at long wavelengths. These cameras used quantum well infrared detectors (QWIPs) to detect relatively “cool” objects such as ballistic missiles in mid-course, when the hot rocket engine is not burning and most of the emission peaks are between 8 and 9 micrometers. |
| SPECTRAL DIM. MALVERN INST. |
Aiding Quality Control for Pharmaceuticals
The Technology
Infrared Spectroscopy
The Missile Defense Connection
E. Neil Lewis, Ph.D., an expert in near-infrared imaging, co-founded this small company that, until recently, relied on a few sales of high-end spectrometry units to major pharmaceutical corporations for quality control of product. The spectrometric technology was based in part on a cooled indium-antimonide infrared sensor that MDA’s predecessor, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), had helped provide to Dr. Lewis and his colleagues for a round of experimental imaging in breast tissue. The innovations stemming from this effort involved both the sensor substrate and the image processing algorithms used to tame the data-heavy output of the sensors. By clicking on various areas in a single image plane, the user could obtain the spectral signature of heterogeneous tissues, with each wavelength containing information that is compound-specific. Since the microscope simultaneously recorded pictures and spectra over a wide range of wavelengths, it was possible to examine a cell for many chemical constituents without such indirect means as fluorescent reporters or dyes. |
Targeting Deep Tumors with Microwaves
The Technology
Adaptive Phased Arrays
The Missile Defense Connection
In the early days of SDIO, Dr. Alan Fenn of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory designed and developed an adaptive phased-array (APA) microwave antenna in an electromagnetically quiet, non-reflecting chamber to simulate space-based radar transmission. The APA algorithms are similar to those used for adaptive optics in astronomy. Augustine Cheung, an engineer interested in the medical capabilities of the APA technology, licensed the APA technology and set out to test its capabilities in the treatment of cancer. |
Visualizing the Molecular Makeup of the Eye
The Technology
Adaptive Optics
The Missile Defense Connection
Kestrel Corporation was the recipient of MDA SBIRs in the areas of hyperspectral imaging and optical remote sensing. On the basis of this work, the company developed an advanced Fourier transform hyperspectral imager that eventually flew on the MightySat II.1 satellite in a technology demonstration for the Air Force. |
Technology Transfer Every Day
MDA promotes advances in technology every day of the year. Watch this space for news about additional technology successes in biomedicine. We will continue to add to this online report.
In addition, you can search within the MDA Technology Applications program Web site, www.mdatechnology.net, for promising technology that may address the needs of the life sciences community.
This report has been written and produced for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Technology Applications Program by the National Technology Transfer Center-Washington Operations. The information presented does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Federal Government; no official endorsement should be inferred. |
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