Brandie Jefferson, MassDevice staff
Electronic feedback between prosthetic devices and human limbs ensures that a patient’s body doesn’t endure too much pressure.
Quimby And Collins use occlusion devices to test and measure the strength of a person’s bite.
Insulin pumps deliver precise doses to patients, without requiring multiple shots each day.
Integral to all of these devices is a 0.004-inch sensor, the specialty of Boston-based Tekscan Inc.
Its sensors, and the accompanying software and data acquisition hardware, are used throughout the medical field and beyond.
For example, floormats that measure gait are used for human patients and animals — pharmaceutical companies testing the affects of drugs on animals use the devices to measure how movement is affected by different doses of medication.
Tekscan works with local universities and hospitals – including M.I.T. and Massachusetts General Hospital — as it develops broader applications for its tiny sensors.
And the firm supplies other companies in the medical devices sphere, including MiniMed, Medtronic and Covidien.
(Above: Tekscan’s pressure mapping technology in action)
