State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor John B. King Jr. today announced that this technology is a recipient of the latest round of seed funding through the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF), which provides grants to faculty inventors and scientists.
Background :
Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is a technique that has shown promise in biomedical imaging for the diagnosis of burn wounds. However, current portable terahertz imagers are either limited by size, requiring motion stages to move a scanning head over a sample, or by alignment issues associated with their image acquisition techniques. The current state-of-the-art technique for burn assessment remains subjective clinical examination, in which clinical diagnosis is often delayed for days to determine whether the burn has reached its maximum depth. There remains a need for high-speed, objective diagnostic tools to improve accuracy in assessing burn depth and affected surface area, which are pivotal factors guiding therapeutic decision-making.
Technology Overview :
The inventors have developed a portable handheld spectral reflection (PHASR) scanner that is alignment-free and can acquire three-dimensional spectroscopic images in the terahertz range of 0.1-3 THz. The PHASR scanning device uses an asynchronous optical sampling system to achieve short scan times and is attached only by an umbilical. The device’s portability and quick scan times allow it to be used in clinical settings where previous devices could not be used. The device has been used to characterize burn injuries in animal studies, and a human clinical trial is planned to further test its use for diagnosing burn wounds and predicting wound-healing outcomes.
Advantages :
Applications :
Intellectual Property Summary : US Patent Issued: US12146790, Patent Application Published: WO2020185886
Stage of Development : Human Data
Licensing Status : Available
Licensing Potential : Development partner - Commercial partner - Licensing
About the Research Foundation for the State University of New York:
As the nation's largest research foundation supporting the nation's largest public university system, The Research Foundation for SUNY powers research and innovation to address today's most pressing problems and shape a better future for generations to come. The Research Foundations supports SUNY researchers leading the way globally in AI for the public good, quantum technologies, next-generation semiconductors, biotech and medicine, energy and climate solutions, and more. The Research Foundation for SUNY is a private, nonprofit educational corporation that is tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit us online at rfsuny.org .
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu .