Photonicare awarded $2.1 million SBIR funding for patient trials

A Research Park startup is making great strides in providing healthcare providers with better diagnostic tools. The National Institue of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program recently awarded Photonicare $2.1 million. This is not the first time the medical diagnostics startup has won significant funds and they intend to use this round for a several-hundred person study which will better help them earn FDA approval and bring the product to market next year.

Photonicare founders, Ryan Shelton, Ryan Nolan, and University of Illinois Professor Stephen Boppart, believed that ear infections could be better detected if imaging technology were used to peer past the eardrum’s surface. Ear infections are a common affliction for children and when Shelton discovered this with his own child, he was inspired to help doctors make the best decisions with more accurate instruments. The tool can check against overdiagnosis and avoid unnecessary antibiotics.

Photonicare was founded in 2013 and soon after began incubating at the Research Park’s EnterpriseWorks. They have utilized the tools at EnterpriseWorks to formulate plans and SBIR applications.

More about the story can be found in this Crain’s Chicago Business article: chicagobusiness.com/article/20180726/NEWS03/180729923/a-surer-way-to-diagnose-ear-infections?X-IgnoreUserAgent=1