"Today we are ensuring that our fighting men and women are better equipped to survive when they are sent into harm's way," said Congressman David Wu. "These funds will help save lives on the battlefield and will promote innovative research and development to protect our armed forces and America from 21st century threats."
Some of the funding Congressman Wu was able to obtain included innovative research in the areas of battlefield surgical tissue repair at the Oregon Medical Laser Center, infantry helmet liner retrofitting at the Columbia County based company, Oregon Aero, and for hemorrhage dressing control research at the Tigard based company, HemCon.
"I am proud to be able to help find ways to protect our troops and proud to help the first congressional district's emerging high tech, research and development center grow."
A full listing and description of the programs receiving funds follows.
Hemorrhage Control Dressing -- Chitosan Procurement ($7 million, Army Procurement) -- According to military physicians, 90% of soldiers killed in war die before they reach a medical facility, most often of blood loss. Wounds to the extremities are considered the main preventable cause of death in military action. In 2002, the FDA approved the use of a hemorrhage control dressing for the external control of severe hemorrhage. Its manufacturer, HemCon Inc., shipped the first production dressings to the U.S. Army last March. In addition, recent tests at the Army Institute for Surgical Research have shown that the HemCon dressing dramatically increases survival and reduces blood loss from internal trauma and during surgery.
Hemmorhage Control Dressing Research -- HemCon ($5 million, Army RDT&E Medical Technology) -- Researchers have developed a hemorrhage control dressing which has shown tremendous promise in revolutionizing the treatment of wounds on the battlefield. In November 2002, the FDA approved this dressing for the external control of severe hemorrhage and the manufacturer, HemCon Inc. is rushing to produce dressings for US Armed Forces. Unlike the external use dressing, a dressing for internal use has not been approved by the FDA and will require human clinical trials prior to approval for use. $2 million will continue the research and development efforts to develop and conduct FDA required testing of an internal hemorrhage control dressing that can be used to stop bleeding during surgery by Army surgeons.
Oregon Health and Science University's Bio-Medical Engineering Center for Research on Bioterrorism Agents: Development of a Universal Vaccine Vector for Bioterrorism Agents in an Aerosolized Nonhuman Primate Model ($1 million, Army Research, Test and Evaluation) -- Currently, the vaccines for many microbes are either not completely effective, require repeated immunization or as in the case of the smallpox vaccine, provide a risk to a significant part of the population. The specific aim of this program is to develop a large capacity novel vaccine vector (the human herpesvirus cytomegalovirus [HCMV]) that can effectively and safely confer protective immunity to multiple bioterrorism agents.
Battlefield Surgical Tissue Repair Replacement Program at the Oregon Medical Laser Center ($4 million, Army RDT&E Medical Technology) – Researchers at the Oregon Medical Laser Center (OMLC) have created tissues for repair of battlefield injuries based upon the natural protein elastin, as well as laser techniques (“dye targeted laser fusion”) for instant sealing of wounds. In 2002, these researchers received the only Program Excellence Award given to a non-Army organization by the Medical Research and Material Command.
Infantry Helmet Liner Retrofit Kit ($2.2 million, Army Guard, National Guard Equipment) -- The Ballistic Liner Suspension System (BLSS) kits offers new levels of safety, security and comfort for the infantry. The BLSS offers increased protection from head impact, reducing load transfers from 300 Gs to well under 100 Gs. One hundred Gs is a concussion, 200 Gs is a severe concussion, and 300 Gs is lethal. Besides the safety concerns, the BLSS kit reduces helmet wobble, creating a more stable platform, increases comfort, reduces the temperature on the head, and eliminates sores developed from extended wear of current system.
Brain, Biology and Machine Initiative ($3 million, RDT&E Account) – The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine at the Center for Brain, Biology and Machine Center at the University of Oregon allows scientists to observe physiological changes in the human brain while a subject thinks, acts and feels. Congress had previously provided the fMRI program more than $6 million from the Army Medical RDT&E account. The $2 million will provide for the continued development of the fMRi facility.
SeaLion Technology Demonstration ($8.4 million, Navy RDT&E) -- These funds are for the completion and continued test and evaluation of a Sealion craft with modular capability to be used as a technology demonstrator for littoral requirements. This multi-mission high speed, low signature Technology Demonstrator will be capable of supporting a variety of mission modules and equipment, including situation awareness electronics, remotely operated vehicle launch mechanisms; and stabilized pop-up weapon mounts and guns.
ARGOS Scheduling System ($6 million, Navy Procurement) -- The Navy spends billion of dollars annually on construction, retrofit and repair of ships and submarines. Scheduling these activities is an overwhelming task and existing scheduling systems rely on "makespan minimization" techniques to develop such workforce schedules. Specifically, these scheduling tools work to minimize the length of time it takes to get the job done. The computer system, named ARGOS, is based on entirely new algorithms and is capable of scheduling multiple years' production across a whole shipyard in hours, instead of months, and without human interaction. Schedules developed by ARGOS typically exhibit a 10-15% reduction in construction labor costs when compared with those used in the yards today. Conversely, in situations where throughput is limited by the available the humanpower pool, these savings are achieved without changing the fundamental production process or shipyard facility in any way.
Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute's Miniature Tactical Energy Systems Development ($2.5 million, Defense-Wide RDT&E) -- The Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) is a collaborative effort that combines Oregon's strongest university science and technology research with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The FY05 proposal consists of two defense research projects -- Miniature Tactical Energy Systems (Army) and Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing (Air Force). The Miniature Tactical Energy Systems Proposal is intended to develop miniaturized tactical energy systems for a wide range of military applications including portable power systems for use by military personnel in the field and power systems for remote autonomous sensors.
Portable energy systems help minimize the logistics requirements of field operations by allowing for advanced lightweight water purification, in-theater fuel production, and the use of non-conventional power sources for trickle charging light-demand batteries.
Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing, University of Oregon ($2.5 million, Air Force RDT&E) -- The Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative is intended to develop nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing methods that simultaneously meet the military’s need for high performance materials, protect human health and minimize harm to the environment. Three general areas of activity included within the initiative include: rational design of inherently safer and greener materials based upon unique properties found at the nanoscale, systematic assessment of the biological impacts of engineered nanomaterials and development of technology for high volume manufacturing of high-performance nanomaterials.
