Guilford-based medtech company Hyperfine Inc. announced Thursday it has secured a new $3 million grant that will allow it to expand clinical research on the impact of early childhood malnutrition on brain development in low- and middle-income countries.
Hyperfine makes Swoop, a portable, FDA-cleared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided the funding, which will allow the ongoing, multi-year study to continue for an additional three years. The study aims to assess the impact of malnutrition on school readiness and academic achievement with an ultimate goal of helping children.
The foundation began supporting Hyperfine in March 2020.
Hyperfine plans to use the $3 million to enhance Swoop’s functionality, software and data management specifically for use in remote, low- and middle-income locations. The money also will go toward optimizing MRI on newborns and infants, and providing technical support for Swoop systems that are part of the global study.
MRI can be used to assess brain development. According to Hyperfine, this technology hasn’t been widely accessible in low- and middle-income countries, so equipping them with the Swoop system will help caregivers diagnose and treat children impacted by malnutrition.
Dr. Khan Siddiqui, chief medical officer at Hyperfine, said the investment will help provide an affordable method to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for improving children’s health and neurodevelopment.
“This work is designed to benefit infants and young children throughout the world,” Siddiqui said. “Children born preterm, small for gestational age, or who face malnutrition, neglect, or other forms of adversity are at risk for delayed, impaired, or sub-optimal neurodevelopment.”
Maria Sainz, president and CEO of Hyperfine, said the company is working to make this imaging technology accessible to patients worldwide, with current active partnering with researchers and clinicians in countries such as Uganda and Bangladesh.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
