CleveMed Blogs

It all began when it was time for the needed photoshoot for SleepView, (our new baby among CleveMed’s family of sleep diagnostic devices). I went to Sarah (my boss) and said, “Who should be the model?” She paused a moment, then rattled off 2 names from the engineering department. “Maybe they would like to help?” she smiled sweetly.

I emailed them both; a pleading, cajoling couple of sentences, and waited. Surprisingly, they seemed quite happy to switch gears for a bit, and the first affirmative came 48 minutes sooner than the other. So the choice was easy: Dominic.

The day before the photo/video-shoot was quite a buzz of activity.

Dominic was kind enough to not back out of the whole thing while he had the chance.

Tony (our photographer) was just amazing. Just being in Tony’s studio, seemed to make the creative juices flow. We were spouting all kinds of ideas for future ad campaigns: one part of me marveled, yet another part of me cringed. But we needed this rambling I think… Dominic needed to take his mind off the discomfort he must have surely endured, from holding his hands out over a white board, and obeying 5-syllable instructions from Tony: “An-inch-to-the-left.” “Turn-device-clock-wise. No, your clock-wise.” “Curve your index finger a little toward you?” (No kidding, Dominic left for vacation the next day).

Finally, Tony dropped off our DVD and I must say that Dominic’s hands look good holding the SleepView and the SleepView looks just great: small, compact, and oh-so-easy to handle! But Tony was not the only one who took pictures that day. I just had to sneak a couple of cell phone pics that I have posted on our Facebook page. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

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I remember the story of a biomedical engineer I know. As an undergrad, he planned to graduate, leave school and enter the industry. In the last weeks of class, a professor brought in a patient with a high level spinal cord injury. He demonstrated how FES (functional electrical stimulation) could be used to control weak or paralyzed muscles. When he saw this paralyzed patient move his arms, he was hooked. He went on to graduate with a PhD in biomedical engineering with a focus on rehab engineering.

Biomedical Instrumentation 101: students learn circuit design, how to build an amplifier, data acquisition, signal processing, etc. The concepts are taught; but is there enough emphasis on how this information can be used in applications outside of the classroom? Education in these areas of engineering and physiology is important, but how it can be used in real world applications is just as critical.

CleveLabs is a lab course system that uses wireless data acquisition hardware and interactive software to teach engineering, data acquisition, digital signal processing and basic and advanced physiology. In addition to these customary topics, we also include a section of clinical applications: labs that demonstrate to students where they can apply all that they’ve learned. How about using electro-oculography (movement of the eye) to control the position of a dot on the screen, and control the color of the dot just by blinking? This shows how EOG can be used for computer cursor control, where blinking represents a click, for persons with high level spinal cord injuries. Or what about using electromyography (electrical muscle activity) from the biceps and wrist extensor muscles to control the elbow angle and hand grasp of a virtual robotic arm? This explains how the use of existing muscles can control a prosthetic limb. In addition, heart rate detectors are created, gait and stride time are measured, EEG is used to detect different states of alertness. CleveLabs goes beyond the traditional topics using clinical examples of biomedical engineering applications.

Where can real world examples, such as the story of my friend, take your students?

CleveMed specializes in the manufacture of wireless, subject-worn physiological monitoring equipment. Within the Division of Research and Education systems, a number of wireless data acquisition devices are offered for a variety of applications.

BioCapture is a research system that uses the BioRadio, a wireless data acquisition device for physiological monitoring. The BioRadio can measure any combination of signals such as ECG, EMG, EEG, EOG, respiration, SpO2 and more. Data is telemetered to a receiver connected to a nearby PC. The information is displayed through the software and data can be exported for analysis in third party applications, such as LabView, Matlab or Excel. The BioCapture system is suitable for a number biomedical research applications.

CleveLabs is a laboratory course system that uses the same data acquisition device as BioCapture, the BioRadio. The software is different, in that it is tailored toward students as a laboratory teaching system focusing on engineering, physiology and clinical applications. Biomedical engineering, physiology, electrical & computer engineering and other departments can benefit from this technology. The system is very flexible and can be used in biomedical engineering labs and classrooms, biomedical research applications, physiology labs and research, and more.

KinetiSense is a wireless data acquisition system that measures three dimensional motion using accelerometers and gyroscopes. Linear acceleration and angular velocity are measured from different portions of the body and data is transmitted to a received connected to a nearby PC. The software displays and stores the data and some analysis features are included. An export utility is also included for easy export for custom analysis applications using programs such as LabView, Matlab or Excel.

CleveMed has announced the promotion of Joseph P. Giuffrida, PhD to Vice President, General Manager of the Division of Movement Disorders. CleveMed is continually expanding as a medical device company and Dr. Giuffrida will continue to fill a crucial role to assist with the company’s success.

Dr. Giuffrida, 33, completed his BS, MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University with a concentration in rehabilitation engineering. He began his career at CleveMed in 2000 as an Applications Engineer and upon receipt of his PhD in 2004, became a Principal Investigator and eventually Director of the Division of Movement Disorders. Within these roles, Dr. Giuffrida has secured over $10 million in funding from both the National Institutes of Health and the State of Ohio to fuel the research, development, and commercialization of innovative medical devices focused on aiding in the diagnosis and therapy of movement disorders. He has secured FDA clearance to market for a number of CleveMed systems, managed reimbursement strategies for new and emerging technology, established multiple world renowned key opinion leaders and clinical consultants, and lead the marketing and sales teams for CleveMed’s clinical movement disorder products as well as the research and education product lines.

Most notably, CleveMed’s Division of Movement Disorders commercialized and launched Kinesia under Dr. Giuffrida’s direction. This technology is intended to provide a standardized platform for objectively quantifying motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. Additional research and development in this Division is focused on extending the market applications for Kinesia from clinical office visits to home monitoring and deep brain stimulation programming, assistive technologies to aid in communication for persons with limited mobility and speech impairment and the development of rehabilitation systems to aid in motor recovery after brain injuries such as stroke or cerebral palsy.

In addition to the Division of Movement Disorders, Dr. Giuffrida also manages CleveMed’s line of products focused on the research and education market. Dr. Giuffrida was able to commercialize CleveMed’s wireless physiological monitoring technology into specific academic and university based target applications to increase CleveMed’s sales both domestically and internationally.