DNA Medicine Institute Awarded Two NASA Development Contracts for Remote Medical Diagnostic Instrument

Cambridge, MA – July 23, 2012 — DNA Medicine Institute (DMI) has been awarded two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), totaling $1.1 million, to advance the development of its breakthrough rHEALTH™ remote diagnostics platform. These Phase IIE and Phase III contracts build on previous NASA-supported milestones and are aimed at accelerating the rHEALTH sensor toward deployment in future spaceflight and clinical applications.

“These new contracts enable us to expand on the strong zero-gravity and low-gravity performance data already validated during NASA flight simulations and reinforce our strategic collaboration with NASA and its research partners,” said Eugene Chan, MD, Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of DMI.

The rHEALTH™ sensor is designed to function as a fully miniaturized clinical laboratory, capable of performing comprehensive diagnostic testing from a droplet-sized sample — all from a device small enough to hold in the palm of your hand. NASA views this capability as a critical enabler for crew health monitoring on the International Space Station and future deep-space missions, where full hospital infrastructure is unavailable.

“NASA is always pleased when SBIR award winners progress toward broader adoption, both inside NASA and in the commercial marketplace,” said Rich Leshner, SBIR Program Executive at NASA Headquarters.

Beyond space, the technology has far-reaching terrestrial applications — enabling rapid, laboratory-grade diagnostics in remote field deployments, austere environments, community health settings, emergency care, physician offices, and even at home — wherever immediate access to lifesaving medical information is essential.