Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The most common artificial voice source for post-laryngectomy speech rehabilitation is the hand-held buzzer or electrolarynx (EL). This device is relatively easy to use and enables most laryngectomees to verbally communicate, but with reduced intelligibility and markedly degraded naturalness. In addition, EL speech is often described as robotic and monotone, at ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): According to UnitedHealth14 by 2020 half of all Americans would have either diabetes or pre-diabetes with an annual cost of 500 billion - mainly attributed to diabetes related complications. Diabetes is a growing epidemic yet treatment goals are seldom achieved, and patients endure detrimental complications. In the US, 65% of all insulin takers (most of which ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since its introduction in the 1960's, fluorescein angiography (FA) has been the gold standard for retinal vascular diagnosis. However, FA is costly, invasive, and time-consuming, which limits its usefulness as a screening tool. As a potential non-invasive alternative to FA for diagnosing retinovascular disease, we have developed an imaging method called ph ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Crystallization, followed by subsequent structure determination, is a major step in understanding the structure- function relationship of macromolecules. Understanding macromolecule structure has become a key part in the development of new pharmaceuticals, and is a major area of NIH research. Crystallization however is also the rate limiting step, despite techn ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Monitoring physiology of individual cardiomyocytes in high throughput has not been reported. The inability to perform high throughput physiological measurements limits many basic and applied studies, including the use of stem cell derived cardiomycoytes in cardiotoxicity testing. Current automated cardiotoxicity tests have poor predictive value because they use ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There has been a huge increase in demand for comprehensive quantitative analysis of neurovascular imaging data produced in the clinical setting for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, stroke anddementia. Our objective in this project is to design and develop advanced image processing software that can rapidly and accurately analyze such ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our proposal describes an elegant device called the Bumps that quantifies touch sensation on the fingers at low micron levels. The objectives are to diagnose peripheral neuropathy near its onset, when the possibility for reversal is highest, and to monitor either progression or reversal of neuropathy during treatment. Target neuropathies are those related to ch ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, is a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality around the world, responsible for approximately 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths per year.As a heterogeneous and poorly understood disorder, its pathogenesis and possible treatments are an area of active research. While the majority o ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep deprivation (SD) occurs universally in modern societies and causes significant social and financial harm. Numerous human and animal studies indicate that various forms of SD are deleterious to mental and physicalhealth. Therefore, SD has been recognized as an unmet challenge to public health. There is increased need to study the effects of different forms ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cardiogenic shock can occur after open heart surgery or in association with myocardial infarctions, and carries a high mortality. Initiation of mechanical circulatory support can restore blood flow to vital organs and potentially save lives. In this proposal, we plan to develop a device designed to provide temporary mechanical circulatory support which is super ...