NEUROSURGERY NEWS

UC Irvine Researcher Receives OCTANe Award!

The OCTANe Foundation for Innovation (OFI) presented UC Irvine researcher Dr. Marlon Mathews its inaugural Innovation Award at OCTANe's 2007 Medical Device Conference on November 15 at the Westin South Coast Plaza. Dr. Mathews is recognized for developing cerebrovascular Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and will receive a $20,000 prize, a year's membership to OCTANe, and business coaching and mentoring through OCTANe's LaunchPad program.

"I am delighted to have been selected as the winner of the Innovation Award," said Marlon Mathews, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Neurological Surgery and Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic (BLIMC) at the University of California Irvine. During his fellowship at UC Irvine under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Linskey and Professor Zhongping Chen, Mathews' research in biomedical optics and neurosurgery led to the development of an endovascular device that can be safely used for imaging brain blood vessels in patients. The invention is a novel Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) device incorporated onto the framework of endovascular access technology, which obtains high-resolution images of blood vessel walls to guide therapeutic decision making and medical care of patients. Since current imaging modalities are limited in providing microstructural information from blood vessel wall, OCT provides valuable clinical information to prevent or treat strokes and other cerebrovascular disease. Early diagnosis and treatment of a million stroke patients per year can lead to yearly savings of up to 60 billion dollars in the U.S. with medical benefits of decreased death, disability, pain and suffering.

Dr. Mathews' contribution to neurological research and biomedical engineering which led to the creation of medical devices that can visualize the microstructure of blood vessels in the brain at near histologic resolutions, a feat that has not been achieved by any other medical institution. Over the past two years, his leadership has made UC Irvine a major center for translational biomedical optical imaging in the brain. Mathews' prolific research and writing has contributed to UC Irvine's growing reputation as a premiere academic neurosurgical department. "Dr. Mathews is an extremely bright, hardworking postgraduate research fellow who in a very short time has made innovative and significant contributions to our young rebuilding department," said Dr. Mark Linskey, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery

The OCTANe Foundation for Innovation (OFI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) supporting organization to OCTANe. OFI’s mission is advance innovation and entrepreneurship in biomedical and information technology in Orange County through initiatives that target the promotion, development and recognition of innovation and the education, skills development and mentoring of entrepreneurs. OFI is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California. For more information: www.octanefoundation.org

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