Clear Guide Medical won $1.5 million in funding from NIH to research the use of ultrasound imaging for needle insertions.

The 2-year SBIR Phase II award from the National Institutes of Health supports a goal of making the practice a more widespread tool used in a number of clinical specialties, the company said.

Company officials said the research will look at a new ultrasound imaging feedback methods, which can help doctors keep the right probe and needle alignment relative to the clinical target. If this is proven possible, then training could make it easier to use ultrasound at the same time as the needle insertion in order to hit the target in the body the first time around, according to Clear Guide Medical.

Clear Guide Medical said that the skill involving both ultrasound imaging and hand-eye coordination to perform a needle insertion isn’t easy to acquire and not all clinicians use ultrasound to guide the needle insertion procedure, according to the company. The Baltimore-based company develops technology that enables computer-assisted image guidance for needle-based surgical interventions.

Clear Guide won’t be working alone. The award also covers a subcontract with Stanford University Professor Allison Okamura, an expert on developing ways to realize advanced robotic and human-machine systems that are capable of touch interaction.