The US Army Medical Research & Development Command (USAMRDC) has given $2m to New York-based Oculogica to develop a wearable version of its technology for detecting concussion.

Oculogica specialises in concussion diagnosis and categorisation, with FDA-cleared technology that aids in the diagnosis of concussion without a pre-injury baseline test requirement.

Oculogica, along with its partners, including the US Military at West Point’s Keller Army Hospital and the Geneva Foundation, were awarded this grant for the development of technology to assess mild traumatic brain injury in deployed and far-forward settings.

“With concussions impacting more than ten million people annually, making tests more accessible to patients – even at the site where they are injured – can be critically important,” said Oculogica CEO Rosina Samandani. “The earlier we can detect a concussion, the greater the likelihood of a good outcome. The Oculogica concussion detection technology is ideal for a fast, non-invasive, wearable field test, in part because it does not require the collection of any bodily fluids. This grant from the US Army recognises this potential, and the innovation and high clinical standards of our research team and incredible partners.” 

The work will commence later this year or early 2022.

“This device has the potential to provide efficient and objective information that could aid in diagnosing concussions and monitoring recovery from injury in far-forward and field settings,” said Kenneth Cameron of Keller Army Hospital and a Geneva investigator. “The product also has potential applications in both the military and sports medicine settings to objectively identify individuals who sustain a concussion and in making return to duty and sport decisions.”

In addition to Keller Army Hospital, Christina Master, a physician and researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Chop), and co-director of the Minds Matter concussion programme at Chop, will collaborate on the grant.

“This is an advancement the field has been waiting for, and it is so needed,” she said. “We have been studying eye-tracking as part of a multi-modal assessment of concussion for several years in the clinic. The ability to take this to deployed settings, such as the military or sports field, is a critical next step.”

Oculogica has developed the EyeBox, an FDA cleared baseline-free aid in diagnosis of concussion to help physicians objectively categorise concussion. EyeBox is a four-minute test for ages five to 67. It is used by healthcare organisations, including Midwest Orthopedics at Rush University, the clinics of the president of the California Brain Injury Association, and others.

The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay’s Sadie Buboltz-Dubs, another collaborator on the grant, added: “We are thrilled to be a part of this effort to build a better concussion diagnostic and to help take the EyeBox technology to the field.”

AdHawk Microsystems’ camera-free eye tracking technology will be a critical component of the, wearable device.

“Our eye tracking system architecture has been reimagined from the ground up to produce high speed, high fidelity data in mobile products that can be worn comfortably all day,” said Neil Sarkar, CEO of AdHawk Microsystems. “We are very excited to be working with Oculogica and this collection of world-class research sites to collaborate on a device that will move brain injury diagnostics significantly forward. We have always envisioned our technology being used for medical diagnosis. This is a significant step to realising that vision.”

Oculogica has received other grants to develop its technology, including one from the National Institutes of Health and another from the Food & Drug Administration. This latest funding represents the largest grant the company has received to date.

Oculogica is an eye tracking-based, neuro-diagnostic company founded by Uzma Samadani, a neurosurgeon at Centracare and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and associate professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at the University of Minnesota School of Engineering.