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>> So what we're trying
to do here is trying

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to develop a system that
could do brain imaging off

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of double A batteries
basically, a very lightweight,

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portable brain imaging so
that we could brain imaging

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out of the neuroimaging
center and put it into places

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like space or like
the front lines

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in the military settings
or so forth.

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So here we have -- our model
is wearing our device inside

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the cap.

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Take the cap off; as you can
see, the sensors are inside.

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We have the [inaudible] in there
and we have the sensor itself

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and that can go on easily.

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>> So this is the entire size
of an MRI boiled down into --

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>> This is to get -- yeah, get
similar measurements to MRI

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and so we're getting
blood volume

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and blood oxygenation
measures just like you would

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with a functional MRI scan.

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The device itself that collects
all the data is right here

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and we have a series of them

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that are progressively more
complicated that allows us

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to collect more auxiliary
information,

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more optical information
and that's compared

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to the big devices
that I have down here

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that are the full size
laboratory devices.

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That one's an imager
at 150 pounds

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and is not something you're
going to strap to your back

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and walk around with,
whereas this one is designed

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to achieve that goal.

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>> So talk about -- first of
all, what are the benefits

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of this [inaudible] astronauts
of all we know about flying

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in space for a long
period of time [inaudible].

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>> Yeah, smaller is
always good and later

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and less power requirements
and so forth are always good

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but for spaceflight,
they're concerned

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about intracranial
pressure alterations

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and there have been a
series of astronauts

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that have been diagnosed
with elevated pressures

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and this provides a way to
monitor brain health in space

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which is clearly an
important aspect of that.

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We would do it with MRI
or CT down here on earth

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but we can't take those
up there so instead,

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we can take something
like this up to do

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that sort of monitoring.

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On earth, this gives
us an ability

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to move more towards the
front lines, shall we say,

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so first responders, in the
military and sporting events

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and to home monitoring
such as sleep apnea

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or [inaudible] dizziness, feel
like you're going to faint

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and also is relevant
to monitoring people

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who are very active like
children, autism or epilepsy.

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And so being able to
take this with you

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as you go is a novel technology

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that we just haven't
had the ability

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to try these sorts
of things before.

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So we're excited to
get to that point

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where we can actually use it
for these novel applications.

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>> So is this [inaudible]?

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>> This has not flown yet,
no, we're developing a series

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of prototypes, point
and validating it

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for the various applications

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that NASA is particularly
interested

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in like the intracranial
pressure.

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>> Talk a bit about, you know,
[inaudible] work on something

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like this that you know is going
to fly on board the station

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and how important is
the station to this?

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>> It's very exciting to work
on it to be honest, you know,

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a lot of groups that
I have worked

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with in the past
[inaudible] most fun working

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with NASA just thinking
about this; contributing

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to the space program in
any sort of way, the --

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right now, they have
essentially no real way

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of monitoring brain function
in spaceflight and this is sort

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of one of the few that
has potential in area

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so we're excited about that
and the goal is to develop it

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for NASA but we see a number
of clear spinoffs on earth