Spinoff: Health and Medicine

NASA Invention Goes Straight to the Heart

Two engineers at Glenn Research Center developed a tiny, implantable transmitter and handheld reader. Endotronix of Naperville, Illinois, now part of Edwards Lifesciences, licensed the...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Robots in the Operating Room

Virtual Incision of Lincoln, Nebraska, used funding from Johnson Space Center to develop a mini surgical robot that’s now authorized for colectomies. A version of the device designed for space...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

A Better Seat for the Seated

Kalogon was founded in Melbourne, Florida, by a former NASA contractor, who used experience working on the Commercial Crew Program based at Kennedy Space Center to design a wheelchair seat that helps...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Boosting Bone Health

Because astronauts can lose bone density on long-duration missions, Johnson Space Center conducts research on bone loss. Data provided by NASA-funded research helped Osteoboost Health of Redwood City,...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Extraterrestrial Medical Diagnostics

A portable device made by Boston-based 1Drop Diagnostics US can test a single drop of blood for numerous medical conditions. Glenn Research Center prepared the technology for testing on the...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

NASA Sets Standard for Nutritional Health Products

Houston-based Nugevity is a restructured version of the company AmeriSciences, which worked with Johnson Space Center to develop dietary supplements for astronauts and then...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Space Tech Gives Treadmill Users a ‘Boost’

Boost Treadmills of Palo Alto, California, is the second company cofounded by the son of a former Ames Research Center employee to capitalize on a concept his father developed for...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Space-Based Tech for Home Health Monitoring

Radio-frequency technology developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and licensed by Advanced TeleSensors of Austin, Texas, makes it possible to monitor vital signs remotely. The...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Seeing Is Communicating

An effort funded by Congress to improve and miniaturize eye-tracking communication technology for people with disabilities brought Eyegaze together with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Fairfax,...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Air Treatment Systems Break Down Pollutants, Germs

Fresh-Aire UV of Jupiter, Florida, developed a line of air purifiers that break down organic contaminants with a process called photocatalytic oxidation (PCO). The company gets its...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Semiconductor Research Leads to Revolution in Dental Care

Research into growing crystals for electronics at NASA’s short-lived Electronics Research Center led to an agency patent for repairing teeth by growing crystals of...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Medical-Grade Smartwatch Can Monitor Astronauts, Patients

A research consortium backed by Johnson Space Center funded the development of a wearable device that could monitor the vital signs and activities of astronauts in space or...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Cutting the Knee Surgery Cord

The first FDA-cleared wireless arthroscopic camera for minimally invasive knee surgeries and other orthopedic procedures got early support from NASA through the Adopt a City program, which enabled...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Concentrating on Microbes

SBIR funding for InnovaPrep LLC of Drexel, Missouri, led to a bioconcentration system for testing air and water quality on the space station and improved the company’s commercial technology. The funding...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Synthetic DNA Diagnoses COVID, Cancer

Synthetic DNA used to diagnose diseases such as COVID, hepatitis, and cancer was developed by Firebird Diagnostics LLC of Alachua, Florida, with research funded in part by the NASA Astrobiology...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Space Radiation Research Fights Cancer on Earth

Protecting astronauts from space radiation exposure is important, so Johnson Space Center funded research into using certain segments of DNA to estimate radiation damage. After it...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

NASA Research Illuminates Medical Uses of Light

Multi Radiance Medical Inc. of Solon, Ohio, builds light-therapy devices based in part on NASA-funded research. Though health benefits of exposure to certain wavelengths were known,...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Electrical Body Signals Help Researchers Restore Movement and More

NASA has long studied the effects of weightlessness on astronauts’ muscle functioning. With support from Johnson Space Center, including SBIR contracts, Delsys...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Device for Analyzing Deep Space Could Detect Tumors, Air Particles

NASA pulls data from deep space and elsewhere using microchannel plates, devices that amplify particles or photons, making faint signals detectable. Under NASA SBIR...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Telescope Mirror Tech Improves Eye Surgery

A system for guiding LASIK eye surgery is a by-product of early research on the James Webb Space Telescope mirrors. Santa Ana, California-based Johnson & Johnson Vision’s iDesign...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Clean Air Tech for Spacecraft Helps Fight Pandemic

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as it became clear that the novel coronavirus was transmitted through the air, several companies realized their NASA-derived air-quality...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

From a Lightbox to Lamps

Dale Dell’Ario had a glowing box in his living room, and he wanted to share it.

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Artificial Intelligence for Astronauts Monitors Patients at Home

When chronic pain flares, the trip from your door to the doctor’s office can seem as difficult as getting from Earth to Mars. The same could be said for the...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Image-Analysis Software Sees Cancer in 3D

NASA Technology

Even NASA can be surprised.

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Low-Outgassing, Space-Grade Coatings Cover Electronics, Sensors, Pacemakers

NASA Technology

You might open a window after painting a room, or let a foam mattress air out before sleeping on it so the materials can off-gas and...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Variable-Gravity Device Enables Medical, Pharmaceutical Research

NASA Technology

Through decades of sending astronauts into space, scientists have learned much about the biological effects of weightlessness. In the absence of...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Fiber-Optic “Nerves” Enable Sensitive Surgery Tools

NASA Technology

Can you make a robot feel? That was the question posed to Johnson Space Center engineer Toby Martin.

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Balance Scale Predicts, Helps Prevent Falls

NASA Technology

The inside of the International Space Station is designed to give astronauts the illusion of verticality in the weightlessness of orbit. The “floors” are relatively...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Space Station Research Platform Paves the Way for Zero-G Manufacturing

NASA Technology

Much of the research NASA does on the International Space Station is designed to better understand how to work and live in zero gravity to...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Remote Monitoring Promotes Community Health beyond Hospitals

NASA Technology

Hospital rooms are full of sensors, screens, and beeps. Those sensors send signals not just to screens in that room but down the hall to the nurse’s...