Most hospitals in the U.S. have what has been considered state-of-the-art technology for diagnosing brain hematoma--Computer Aided Tomagraphy (CAT) scanners. An estimated two million people seek treatemnt for head trauma in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide and many do not immediately receive a CAT scan. This is especially critical in what is known as the "golden hour," or the 60 minutes after a traumatic brain injury occurs in which patient outcomes can be significantly improved. Out on the battlefield in far-flung locales like Afghanistan, that golden hour is even more valuable, but CAT scans aren't an option there.

That's where InfraScan comes in. The Philadelphia-based medical device startup provides cost-effective mobile medical imaging for detecting bleeding in the brain. In mid-July the company announced it signed a $2 million contract with the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy for advanced technology development, safety testing and field evaluation activities to develop a next-generation version of the company's Infrascanner, which has been lauded for helping first responders understand head injuries almost instantly through the use of near infrared (NIR) technologies. The contract will help the company move production of its device to a Southeastern PA location and also add several engineering jobs in the region.

The Infrascanner is based on the patented work of Dr. Britton Chance at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Claudia Robertson at Baylor College of Medicine and has benefited greatly from translational research at Drexel University. UPenn, meanwhile, is a partner in medical trials for the device. It is a small, portable handheld device based on a PDA platform with a wireless detector probe and detects blood based on the differential NIR light absorption of the bleeding versus non-bleeding part of the brain. The device is being marketed in Europe, the Middle East and India and in the U.S., it's under review with the FDA.

InfraScan has received early stage funding from BioAdvance, the Biotechnology Greenhouse of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. The company is also looking at applying its NIR technology to monitor stroke victims.