O’Brien Medical Launches Device Developed with UMaine Collaboration
A new device on the market, developed by O’Brien Medical in Orono in collaboration with the University of Maine Advanced Manufacturing Center, has the potential to improve detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy that can lead to limb loss.
ETF128, an electronic tuning fork named one of the Top 10 innovations in podiatry by Podiatry Today magazine, was patented last year and is now manufactured by Saunders Electronics in South Portland, Maine.
The 128-Hz device offers a significant improvement over current methods used by doctors to detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a nervous system disorder with symptoms of pain, sensation loss and weakness in limbs.
The development of ETF was made possible through a collaboration with Dr. Todd O’Brien, president and founder of O’Brien Medical, and UMaine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center, an engineering support and service center dedicated to promoting manufacturing economic development in Maine.
More than five years ago, O’Brien approached the Advanced Manufacturing Center to help develop a proof-of-concept electronic tuning fork, and then worked with Bruce Segee of UMaine’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to develop the beta and commercial versions of the device.
O’Brien also is an alum of the Top Gun Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program at UMaine, a five-month program that engages entrepreneurs in growing their businesses. Top Gun combines education, mentoring, pitch-coaching and networking opportunities. The program is a partnership of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Maine Technology Institute, Blackstone Accelerates Growth and the University of Maine.