Bioengineering Institute Receives Telemedicine Grant

WORCESTER, Mass., March 11 -- The Bioengineering Institute (BEI) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute has received an $800,000 grant from the US Army Medical Research and Material Command at Fort Detrick, Md., for a study in the field of telemedicine. The award will fund the first year of what is expected to be a multi-year commitment to BEI. The Center for Untethered Medicine at BEI will oversee the study to investigate the development of a real-time troop monitoring system using new sensor and wireless communications technologies to remotely track health data and assess injuries.

The study will serve as the foundation in the development of a communication system that integrates new sensor technologies for real-time troop status monitoring, together with a wearable ultrasound imaging system, used by medics for improving remote injury assessment, into a common wireless network. This will enable the location, monitoring and assessment of the status of troops anywhere within the system coverage area at any time. Such a system would facilitate remote triage, improve casualty status assessment and permit more efficient troop location and identification, along with other benefits, BEI said.

"The promise of this real-time, remote monitoring system is that it will save lives by giving decision makers the most accurate and up-to-date picture on the health of soldiers in the field," notes Timothy R. Gerrity, Ph.D., director of BEI. "The results of this research also promise exciting civilian applications that will empower patients to get better care for both acute and chronic ailments."

For more information, visit: www.wpi.edu/Academics/Research/BEI/