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PARTEQ Proof of Principle

Award recipients

June 2007:

• Dr. Stan Brown (Chemistry) and Alexei Neverov received $75,000 for further work on a “green” method for deactivating contaminants such as chemical warfare agents, pesticides and insecticides. The funding will support testing of his technology on live chemical warfare agents by a certified, third-party testing facility, a crucial step towards enhancing the market readiness of Dr. Brown’s discovery.

• Dr. Andrew Pollard (Mechanical and Materials Engineering), who has developed a method for detecting emboli – potentially life-threatening blockages in arteries that can occur as a result of open heart surgery -- received $35,000 to integrate his emboli detection software into hardware in the cardiac treatment centre of Kingston General Hospital. Dr. Pollard’s DETECTS (Detection of Emboli using Trans-esophageal Echocardiography for Counting, Total volume, and Size estimation), when combined with the appropriate ultrasound equipment, will give doctors a tool for quantitatively assessing the effectiveness of current air removal techniques during surgery. Dr. Pollard’s work is also being supported by Siemens Medical Solutions, which is supplying an ultrasound system for the project.

• Dr. Joan Stevenson (Physical and Health Education) received $25,000 to support design modifications to a Personal Lift Assist Device (PLAD), a wearable device that offloads muscular forces on the lower back during lifting tasks, and potentially reducing a worker’s risk of lower back injury. The modifications will allow the PLAD to meet manufacturing facility standards, leading to a trial at a major Canadian automotive manufacturer.

• Dr. Roel Vertegaal (School of Computing) received $85,000 to complete product refinements to his eyebox2 long-range eye-tracking technology, which enables the emerging digital advertising industry to measure and collect accurate viewership information. This funding will support the completion of validation studies, software optimization, and the development of eye analytics software for tracking viewer statistics. Dr. Vertegaal’s technology attracted worldwide interest following its demonstration at web giant Google in May, and his spinoff company, xuuk Inc. continues to receive orders for his product.