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Point-of-Care Center for Emerging Neurotechnologies (POC-CENT)

PI: Fred Beyette, Ph.D.
PI Institution: University of Cincinnati
Grant Number: 1-U54-EB007954-01
NIH Program Officer (PO): Brenda Korte, Ph.D.
NIH Lead Science Officer (LSO): Grace Peng, Ph.D.
NIH Associate Science Officer (ASO): Todd Merchak
Center Website: http://www.ece.uc.edu/POC-CENT/

There is a critical need for developing improved and rapid diagnostic information for the patient experiencing neurologic emergencies such as stroke and head injury. For example, it is estimated that 1 million brain cells die every minute during an ischemic stroke. Point-of-care information is critical for preventing brain damage, dysfunction and death during a neurologic emergency. The Point-of-Care Center for Emerging Neurotechnologies (POC-CENT) is dedicated to the development of technologies that will dramatically improve the care and health of the neurologic patient by providing fast and reliable information about the biological events occurring in the brain. The goal for the technologies to be developed is to advance point-of-care information and information flow for the neurologic patient in the emergency room, neurosurgery suite, for neuroradiology and the neurosurgical intensive care unit. Anytime the physician requires rapid information from the neurologic patient, it will be considered as having potential need for point-of-care diagnostic information. This will include, but not be limited to: blood tests, urinalysis, imaging, non-invasive sensors, spinal fluid, and biopsy/tissue samples.

In the POC-CENT, there are five cores representing numerous disciplines to foster and facilitate taking ideas and applying them to clinical applications. These cores are:

1. Clinical Testing
2. Exploratory Projects
3. Clinical Needs Assessment
4. Training
5. Administration

Supporting these cores are representatives from Neurology, Neurosurgery, Engineering, Entrepreneurial Development, the business community, the medical device industry, and University administration. A strength of the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati community is that all of these cores currently support the life sciences community. There are multiple incubators for companies, strong clinical trials experience, and a wealth of training and funding opportunities for all stages of technology development. There will be an opportunity to partner with other funding agencies locally to add value to the technologies that enter into the program.

The team will achieve this goal by developing a pipeline of technologies and a pathway to develop emerging neurotechnologies focused on point-of-care diagnostics. The team will work closely in the region and with the POCTRN to accomplish these goals.