Development of a Closed Loop Brain Cooling System

A team consisting of Spectral Sciences Inc., BeneChill Corporation, Columbia University, Temple University and Brighton Consulting will develop a field-deployable cooling system—with unique brain-temperature monitoring—to induce hypothermia to patients with traumatic brain injury, particularly to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. The cooling technology is a highly efficient intranasal cooling technique that delivers chilling spray into the naso-pharynx. This system has demonstrated the fastest rate of brain cooling among competing methods, and is man-portable. To achieve programmable, closed-loop-controlled operation that can be used to tailor cooling and re-warming profiles to actual brain temperature, we propose to develop a novel, all-optical, non-invasive sensing system for brain temperature monitoring that will rely on highly accurate water-absorbance spectral measurements provided by derivative laser spectroscopy using tunable laser technology developed at Spectral Sciences. In Phase I and Phase I Option, a feasibility prototype will be built to demonstrate the operation of the critical sensor technology for closed-loop control, thereby removing the bulk of the development risk. In Phase II, a validation prototype of the complete closed-loop cooling system will be developed, tested in animal and human models, and delivered to DARPA.