Research to Product Case Study:
Trans-Ocular Bioimpedance (TOBI) - Seeing the Brain Through the Eyes

TOBI is a wearable device that allows caregivers to non-invasively evaluate and monitor a patient’s intracranial pressure. The combined efforts of the Weil Institute’s core units fueled TOBI down the road from idea to licensed product. Scroll down to learn how each core unit provided support.

 
 
 
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SPECIAL EVENTS

MASSEY GRAND CHALLENGE AWARDS

2015 - Collected initial data in large animal model of TBI

  • PI: Krishna Rajajee, MBBS

  • Co-PI: Kevin Ward, MD; Hakam Tiba, MD, MS; Barry Belmont, PhD; Brendan McCracken,

2017 - Clinical testing in patients and prototype development

  • PI: Hakam Tiba, MD, MS

  • Co-PI: Kevin Ward, MD; Ashwin Belle, PhD; Sardar Ansari, PhD; Craig Williamson, MD; Brendan McCracken, Amanda Pennington

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Proposal Development Unit

  • Wrote, edited, and prepared budget for proposal

  • Facilitated the routing of the application through the ORSP

  • Secured $1.5M Department of Defense grant

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Pre-Clinical Laboratory

  • Performed lab experiments to assess the use of Trans-Ocular Bioimpedance as a non-invasive measurement that can track physiological changes associated with TBI such as intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular auto-regulation

 
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Clinical Research Unit

  • Verified compliance with UM, FDA, and Department of Defense regulations and training

  • Retrieved informed consent from patients and families for participation

  • Collected data from patients using the prototype

  • Provided reports to the team, IRB and sponsored tracking successes and adverse events

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Data Science Team

  • Captured high-fidelity, de-identified physiological data and waveforms from recruited patients in the ICU

  • Stored, processed, and analyzed data


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Commercialization Coach

  • Advised PI with follow-on funding opportunities

  • Served as a liaison between the PI, Office of Technology Transfer, and a prototyping company

  • Secured 2 institutional awards as well as an add-on award from the Department of Defense to develop the prototype

TOBI as of 2021

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In July of 2020, the TOBI team published a manuscript in the Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing titled “Trans-ocular Brain Impedance Index for Assessment of Cerebral Autoregulation in a Porcine Model of Cerebral Hemodynamic Perturbation”

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The TOBI team is currently working with Triple Ring , a prototyping company, to develop a new TOBI device. This device will use tetra-polar arrangement instead of bi-polar to improve signal quality.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The team also received an award through the 2020 Massey Grand Challenge enabling the development of an algorithm that measures intracranial pressure in real time.