IRVINGTON, N.Y., Nov. 2 -- A medical computer vision technology company working on a diagnostic system to detect melanoma has received $9 million in its third round of funding. Electro-Optical Sciences Inc. (EOS), based in Irvington, N.Y., has also secured a protocol agreement with the US Food & Drug Administration for its pre-market approval (PMA) application clinical trial of MelaFind, a handheld diagnostic system for the early detection of melanoma. "The funds will be used primarily to support the final clinical study for the MelaFind PMA at major clinical centers throughout the US, as well as to scale-up MelaFind production and establish a GMP assembly capability required for commercialization," said Joseph V. Gulfo, MD, president and CEO of Electro-Optical Sciense. MelaFind, which is about the size of a portable phone, is placed against a mole or lesion to capture a series of multispectral digital images. It then analyzes and quantifies information about the cells and compares the results against a database of images. The results are confirmed over the Internet while a diagnosis is performed simultaneously on the company's server, then a specific action is recommended to the physician. The entire process takes less than two minutes. EOS says it will reduce errors in diagnosing the often-deadly form of skin cancer. The financing was provided by a group of private investors led by Dan W. Lufkin, co-founder of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, various partners of Allen and Co. and Robert J. Friedman, NYU School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Oncology Section. EOS has developed another computer vision device, Difoti, that uses visible light and transillumination technology instead of x-rays to detect dental cavities. The company said it plans to develop similar devices to detect nonmelanoma skin cancers such as basal cell and squamous cell cancer, and epithelial cancers in locations such as the colon, cervix and mouth. For more information, visit: www.eosciences.com