Rowan startup using AI to map brain tumors wins CSIT award
Summary
The grants are designed to help early-stage companies that have already earned awards from certain federal programs meant to bring U.S. innovations to the marketplace.Co-founded by Dr. Nidhal C. Bouaynaya, associate dean for research and graduate studies and professor of electrical and computer engineering with Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering, MRIMath uses artificial intelligence to help physicians detect brain tumor growth using an MRI about three years earlier than the standard of care.Everything is done by eye-balling nowadays with doctors, or by hand, said Bouaynaya, who co-founded the company in 2017 with Dr. Hassan Fathallah-Shaykh, a neuro-oncologist and mathematician at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. The pathologist confirmed that the tumor had become more aggressive and the patient underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.The company earlier received support from the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Its employees include three Rowan University engineering students: two undergraduates and a former graduate student who now works full time with MRIMath.The CSIT grant will help the company bridge the gap between the federal funding phases, Bouaynaya noted.Established in 2018, the state commission is charged with promoting New Jersey as a home for academic and technological research, development and commercialization. To date, CSIT has awarded $825,000 to 29 New Jersey companies during the programs two funding rounds.CSIT is pleased to be able to support this important work at an early stage N.J. company that leverages federal funding and the capabilities of researchers at Rowan University, said Judith Sheft, CSITs executive director. New Jerseys investment in their ideas will help get these new companies out of the development phases and into commercial use where they can improve lives and create jobs.