Date: Jun 28, 2011 Source: (
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DMetrix Inc. is proof that great technology doesn't always turn into a torrent of money.
DMetrix, a 2001 spinoff of University of Arizona optics and telemedicine technology, has technology that is arguably among the best in its class.
Co-founded by five UA scientists, including former UA optics associate professor Michael Descour and Dr. Ronald Weinstein, a UA pathology professor and founding director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program, the company has 25 patents for its ultra-high-resolution technology for medical microscopy.
The technology uses a patented, multiplexed microscope lens array - think of the multifaceted eyes of a housefly - to capture wide-field images of tissue samples on special imaging chips, with special software to process the images.
In 2005, DMetrix's technology was recognized as a "breakthrough innovation" by The Wall Street Journal. The company's DX-40 array-microscope system, which can automatically process multiple slides, received the 2005 and 2007 R&D Magazine's prestigious R&D 100 Award, given to the 100 technologically most significant innovations of the year.
The company sold a few systems, including some in use at the UA.
But with the onset of the recession, the company found its quarter-million-dollar systems a tough sell.
"That was too much, so we had to downsize," company President Pixuan "Joe" Zhou said.
In 2009, DMetrix let go most of its roughly 15 employees and vacated its offices on West Grant Road near Interstate 10.
Now, the company is working to retool itself, said Zhou, who earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in 1999 and joined DMetrix in 2002.
The company recently moved into a small office and lab space in the UA Science and Technology Park at 9070 S. Rita Road.
As part of the company's retooling strategy, Zhou and a few colleagues are working to develop a smaller microscope system consisting of a scanning platform, or stage, that can be fitted on a standard pathology microscope and linked with a computer using the company's digital imaging software.
The system will process one slide at a time but is expected to cost about a third of the price of the company's all-in-one, jukebox-size DX-40, which is the fastest slide processor on the market but can cost nearly $250,000, Zhou said.
"Based on our core technology, we're trying to make it cheaper and more reliable," he said.
The system also is being designed to view samples illuminated from the top to allow surface analysis, as well as from below using standard "bright field" microscopy, he said.
Zhou said the company plans promote its technology at upcoming medical-imaging trade shows in Atlanta and in China. China provides a fertile market as it upgrades its digital medical technology, he said.
Zhou said he's hopeful the company can turn around, noting that he's getting guidance from local science and business leaders. Company co-founder Descour, who now works at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, is no longer directly involved but still provides consulting help.
Researchers at the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the UA use a DMetrix DX-40 to process large numbers of brain-tissue-sample slides, said institute Director Carol Barnes, a Regents' Professor of psychology and neurology at the UA.
DMetrix and the McKnight institute are collaborating on a federal grant to develop ways to image the brain in multiple dimensions.
"That kind of innovation will really revolutionize the market," Barnes said. "We need to keep them (DMetrix) here and thriving in Arizona."
