There is a critical need and very large market for a miniature ultra-low pressure transducer to monitor pressure within confined body spaces for both animal and human application. Thus, BioTechPlex proposes to develop such a pressure sensor system with wide dynamic range and ultra-fine resolution. This Fiber-Optic-Linked Pressure Sensor (FOLPS) is based on sensing the pressure-induced deflection of a corrugated membrane using a light emitting diode, fiber optics and amplitude modulation. Our short-term objective is to produce and introduce into market the FOLPS for animal application. Our long-term goal is to establish the FOLPS as the preferred pressure measurement system for a wide variety of animal and human applications. BioTechPlex is convinced that the FOLPS will be a blockbuster marketing success based on: 1) the projected rapid double digit growth in the biomedical pressure monitoring market; 2) the market-oriented FOLPS design; and 3) the technological innovations of the FOLPS that enable robust measurements to be made with high stability and repeatability. Following the successful Phase I study, BioTechPlex will accomplish the following two objectives in Phase II: 1) Develop the FOLPS system as a pressure measurement system; 2) Develop the FOLPS system into a system to measure real-time pulmonary function analysis for small animals. BioTechPlex will also explore the FOLPS system to provide pressure measurements within confined spaces in both animals and humans for a wide variety of applications such as airway pressure, arterial and venous pressures, intra-cranial pressure, gastrointestinal pressures and bladder pressure.
