Ex Facebook, Google exec’s imaging startup tests portable imaging devices more affordable than MRI

The CEO and founder of the Silicon Valley-based imaging startup Openwater, Mary Lou Jepsen, PhD, is leading her company into making portable, miniature medical imaging devices that she hopes will disrupt the MRI market as a more affordable and accurate modality, according to an article published Nov. 13 by Business Insider.  

The former Facebook and Google executive is currently having her company test the device on mouse models and hopes it can observe in real time everything from the effects of medication to the progression of cancer.  

Because the images produced are more accurate and detailed that those from MRIs, Jepsen explained, Openwater’s ultimate goal is for the devices to be used in people’s homes to perform various imaging tasks.  

Openwater is also working with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation based in Charlottesville, Virginia, to explore how the technology could be used during non-invasive surgical procedures, according to the article.   

"I want everyone to be able to buy these machines in the drug store next to the blood pressure cuff," Jepsen told Business Insider. 

Read Business Insider’s entire article below.  

 

""

A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.

Around the web

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.