UCLA's newly launched on-campus technology incubator at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) has opened lab space to MediSens Wireless, a startup company that develops and manufactures personal body-monitoring systems for medical and health applications.
The incubator program was established in March to nurture early-stage research and accelerate the commercial translation of technologies developed at UCLA.
MediSens Wireless has licensed patented technology from UCLA for wireless sensor systems developed by Majid Sarrafzadeh, a UCLA professor of computer science and engineering, and his team. The technology is for real-time wireless monitoring of pressure and motion in both medical and non-medical products. The technology will be used to develop body monitoring systems with specific applications for use by diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy - the loss of sensation in the foot - and those with health issues affecting balance who are at high risk of falls.
As part of this arrangement, MediSens Wireless has obtained an exclusive license that will provide the University of California with a royalty on the company's products. MediSens has rented lab space at the CNSI and will move into the incubator space this month, with access to CNSI core lab facilities for research and development.
"We consider ourselves very fortunate to have been selected to join the UCLA incubator program at CNSI," said Eric Collins, president and CEO of MediSens. "The collaborative and innovative environment within the CNSI facility is an important competitive advantage for MediSens in our mission to bring to market products that improve millions of lives."
The UCLA on-campus Technology Incubation Program at the CNSI is an innovative resource with a mission to help accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial startup companies and early-stage technology research projects that originate at UCLA. The incubator offers shared, flexible lab space dedicated to housing eight to 10 early-stage incubation projects for short periods of time.
"The incubator program is an important way for UCLA to make the fruits of our world-class faculty's research available to the public as rapidly as possible," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "California looks to universities like UCLA for innovative technology. It is fitting then to have these startup companies embedded within the CNSI, whose mission is to fuel economic development by nurturing novel technologies and transferring them from the lab to the clinical arena and commercial market."