Volume 10, Number 1 • January/February 2002 • Welcome

NASA Embarks on a New Initiative: Medical Imaging

By Nona Cheeks
TCO Manager, Commercial Integration
& Program Operations
Technology Commercialization Office
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Whether finding new applications for existing NASA technologies or developing unique marketing strategies to demonstrate them, NASA’s offices are committed to identifying unique partnering opportunities. Through their efforts, NASA leverages resources through joint research and development, and gains new insight into the core areas relevant to all NASA field centers. One of the most satisfying aspects of my job comes when I learn of a mission-driven technology that can be spun-off to touch the lives of everyday people. NASA’s New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging is one such initiative. Not only does it promise to provide greater dividends for the country’s investment in aerospace research, but also to enhance the American quality of life.

This issue of Innovation highlights the new NASA-sponsored initiative in medical imaging. Early in 2001, NASA announced the launch of the New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging initiative to promote the partnership and commercialization of NASA technologies in the medical imaging industry. NASA and the medical imaging industry share a number of crosscutting technologies in areas such as high-performance detectors and image-processing tools. Many of the opportunities for joint development and technology transfer to the medical imaging market also hold the promise for future spin back to NASA.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) leads this new NASA initiative. For the past 30 years, NASA GSFC has been committed to finding innovative secondary applications for its technologies in the health industry. Some of the center’s most significant spin-offs were technologies such as the Programmable Pacemaker, the Lixiscope, the Implantable and External Pumps, the Temperature Pill and the Digital-Imaging Breast Biopsy System. Goddard’s interest in the medical industry continues to produce breakthrough technologies that will be featured at the SPIE Medical Imaging 2002 conference on February 23Ð28 in San Diego, CA, such as:

  • Recursive Hierarchical Image Segmentation;
  • Image Micro-Well Detectors for X-and Gamma-Ray Applications; and
  • Thin-Foil Multi-Layer X-Ray Mirror Assemblies for Hard X-Ray Imaging. Samples of the technologies that will be featured from other centers include:
  • Rotational-Translational Fourier Imaging System;
  • NASA Virtual GloveboX;
  • Video Image Stabilization and Registration (VISAR); and
  • Eye Tracker Technology.

The feature article of this issue highlights these technologies and emphasizes NASA’s marketing efforts. NASA’s marketing strategy in the medical imaging arena will continue to unfold with a showcase of technologies at the SPIE conference. In addition to Goddard, representatives from the following NASA centers will present briefings and demonstrate their technologies at SPIE:

  • Ames Research Center
  • Marshall Space Flight Center
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA’s goal in the New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging initiative is to help members of the health and medical industry become more aware of the important gains from partnerships with NASA. Our aim is to leverage the expertise of both NASA and industry partners, and to advance the agency’s goal of benefiting the citizenry. This initiative represents a more proactive approach to commercialization in this field. Q

 

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