DMetrix,
Inc.
UA Spin-off's Product
Selected by The Wall Street
Journal
for Innovation in International
Competition
Nov. 7, 2005
From: AHSC Public
Affairs, (520) 626-7301
DMetrix,
Inc., a
digital-microscopy leader based in
These prestigious awards recognize
technologies in 12 categories that include software, Internet, security,
semiconductors, transportation, biotech, and medical devices, among others.
Selection criteria included breakthrough from conventional ideas and significant
improvement on existing technologies. Earlier this year, DMetrix's technology
received a 2005 R&D100 Award, another highly regarded international award
for innovation.
Ronald S. Weinstein,
MD, head of The
University of Arizona Department of Pathology, a co-inventor of the DMetrix
system and the company's medical director, said "The DMetrix array microscope
will change the practice of pathology. Its virtual slides enable pathology
laboratories to go fully digital, following the lead of radiology departments a
decade ago. After scanning, pathology slide image files are loaded onto a server
and can be viewed over the Internet using a browser from any laboratory in the
world. This provides, for the first time, immediate on-line access to expert
second opinions. We believe that this also will lead to new ways of delivering
health care." Michael R. Descour,
PhD, president of DMetrix and an associate professor of optical
sciences and pathology, is a co-inventor and co-founder of DMetrix. "The DMetrix
array microscope is a major breakthrough in light-microscope design," he said.
"The array form is an unprecedented departure from the form of light microscope
as it has been known since its invention over 400 years ago. This invention adds
to the list of major advances in optics credited to
DMetrix's engineers, led by Artur G. Olszak, PhD, developed the
array-microscope product in two years, making multiple additional inventions
along the way.
The DMetrix scanner is the world's first
digital-imaging device that combines 80 miniature microscope objectives in a
single instrument. A principal distinguishing feature of the DX-40 Array
Microscope is its speed. Thanks to its array of miniature optics, the DX-40
captures a 900 Megapixel image in less than 60 seconds, more than 10 times
faster than other existing methods. Despite that unprecedented power, all the
microscope optics fit into a volume equivalent to a stack of four U.S. quarters.
"To a physician or a patient, this is
remarkable technology. Once patients see new health care-delivery systems emerge
based on the DMetrix. technology, they may view it as revolutionary," said Dr.
Weinstein, a past president of the American Telemedicine Association.
# # #
Senior Public Affairs
Coordinator
sguthrie@email.arizona.edu
To read about the
expansion of the UA College of Medicine in Phoenix go to http://www.phoenix.medicine.arizona.edu/About/News/Campus/