New Jersey Health Foundation and The Nicholson Foundation Award $50,000 Innovation Grant to Rowan University Assistant Professor Creating Improved Health Monitoring Sensor

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wei Xue, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rowan University, has received a $50,000 Innovation Grant from New Jersey Health Foundation (NJHF) and The Nicholson Foundation to create an improved non-invasive wearable sensor for continuous health monitoring, announced James M. Golubieski, president of NJHF.

Dr. Xue and his team are combining low-cost sensors with biomaterials to create a non-invasive wearable sensor that will be smaller, lighter, more accurate and more comfortable to wear than other smart-systems currently available for health monitoring.

"Wearable electronics can drastically transform the way patients are monitored, diagnosed and treated," explained George F. Heinrich, MD, vice chair and CEO of New Jersey Health Foundation.  "However, body-fabric gaps in today's systems limit the continuous, overall sensing performance so that critical signals may not be collected and processed in a timely manner."

The grant will allow Dr. Xue to create a proof-of-concept prototype that integrates thin-film vibration sensors into flexible, protein-based, biocompatible materials.  

"When mounted on human skin, this prototype device will have the potential to continuously monitor the heart rate and respiration rate of a patient in real time," explained Dr. Xue. "Data received through the device's integrated sensors will be internally recorded and then transmitted wirelessly for a physician to evaluate."

For more information, contact Mike Wiley, vice president of Foundation Venture Capital Group, at (908) 731-6612 or [email protected]. 

About New Jersey Health Foundation
New Jersey Health Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that supports biomedical research and health-related education programs in New Jersey through its matching program, its Grants Program and its affiliate, Foundation Venture Capital Group which makes private equity investments in life science start-up companies in New Jersey headed toward commercialization.

About The Nicholson Foundation
The Nicholson Foundation works to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare for vulnerable populations in New Jersey by transforming how it is paid for and delivered. The Foundation's approach emphasizes partnerships and performance-based grant making; its goal is sustainable systems reform.

About Rowan University
In the past four years, Rowan University created a School of Biomedical Sciences & Health Professions; opened the Camden-based Cooper Medical School of Rowan University; and incorporated the School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, making Rowan only the second university in the nation to grant both M.D. and D.O. medical degrees.

SOURCE New Jersey Health Foundation

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http://www.njhf.org