With $300,000 awarded and another $2 million anticipated in NIH Small Business Technology Transfer grants over the next 2 years, Professor, and now CEO, Bill Hersman launched Xemed LLC to commercialize the technology he developed for polarizing xenon gas.

"Prof. Hersman's initial work was driven by intellectual curiosity and wasn't designed for commercial development," said UNH Vice President for Research and Public Service John Aber. "This clearly demonstrates the value of basic research at UNH, both for our ability to improve the human condition and to support economic development."

When inhaled by patients, polarized xenon allows MRI to produce a clear picture of the lungs' interior, which cannot be seen with conventional techniques. It could benefit millions who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, by allowing doctors to see which parts of the lungs are affected.

Hersman has secured FDA approval to test polarized xenon with MRI in humans. The testing is scheduled for later this year with Sam Patz, a collaborator at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "The pressure is on now," said Hersman. "The world has been waiting long enough for a diagnostic procedure for lung health, so we're scrambling to provide that."

Hersman developed his technique for polarizing xenon, the most effective in the world, with previous NIH funding. The new grants will fund research to further refine the technology and shrink its size.

"To make it practical we had to make it fit into a cabinet small enough so that every hospital with an MRI unit could have one," said Hersman. "The challenge is to bring everything together into
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Contact: Bill Hersman
hersman@unh.edu
603-862-3512
University of New Hampshire
22-Mar-2005