T2 Biosytems Inc., the Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of a benchtop MRI device, named Ken Toso vice president of product development.
Toso comes to the company from Worcester, Mass.-based portable glucose monitor maker Grove Instruments, where he served as senior vice president of engineering. Prior to his stint at Grove, Toso was vice president of research & development for the oncology division of Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX).
“We are delighted to welcome Ken to our leadership team as his expertise will be invaluable as we advance our technology towards the marketplace,” T2 Biosystems CEO John McDonough said in a press release. “Ken is joining T2 at a critical time of our growth and evolution to a commercial- stage company.”
T2, which employs about 22 peope in its headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., was formed out of a collaboration of executives and faculty at MIT and Mass. General Hospital, McDonough told MassDevice in August. The company is developing a benchtop MRI device that uses magnetic resonance and nanotechnology to detect the presence of pathogens in virtually any type of biological sample.
“We’d take the instruments that are in central labs today and move them closer to the patient. We can imagine an instrument being in a physician’s office so you could get a test result while you’re sitting there,” McDonough told us. “The doctor can decide what treatment of antibiotics, if any, to put you on. Or the handheld device could be used in an ambulance, where they’re running tests to determine if you had a heart attack. Today, you’re rushed in the ambulance to the hospital and tests are run once you get there. There are some potential applications for Third World countries, where they need to get a rapid result, before a patient leaves, because the medical personnel may never see that person again. They need to be able to test and treat on the spot.”
