Sensor Scientific, Inc.
6 Kings Bridge Road
Fairfield, New Jersey 07004

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Bob Gliniecki
Sensor Scientific, Inc.
(973) 227-7790 Fax: (973) 227-8063
http://www.sensorsci.com
Email sales@sensorsci.com

New Jersey Firm's Sensors May Top Mt. Everest

by DIANE KAMINSKI

A tiny skin sensor developed by SENSOR SCIENTIFIC (Fairfield, NJ) that hasn't ventured far from the hospital nursery where it monitors premature infants, is about to climb Mt. Everest. Its capabilities have piqued the interest of some of the world's most revered scientists. And
the media.

Sensor Scientific, an eastern developer of electronic medical equipment used to monitor neonates and producer of subassemblies used in medical equipment, has quietly held a stable spot in the niche market. That is, until the company received a cold call from the Everest Extreme Expedition (E3) medical team.

"They saw our Web site and gave us a call," Bob Gliniecki, Sensor Scientific's sales and marketing director, told Medical Industry Today. "We were really excited when we got the call. We're a small company and now our name is out there right next to IBM, Kodak and ATT, which are also working with the team."

An agreement resulted in which Sensor Scientific told the Massachusetts Institute of Technology it would donate the small, disc-like monitors and associated technical support.

Now, USA Today, ABC World News and ABC Nightline are talking about the expedition, its climbing team and Sensor Scientific's monitors they will wear attempting to summit the highest peak on the planet. Its thermistor temperature probes will continuously monitor skin
temperature as climbers make their ascent.

Data will be transferred via satellite to the Yale School of Medicine and the MIT Media Laboratory. A tiny camera will also transmit video images, expedition organizers said.

"We sent a standard design used to monitor the temperature of premature infants in an incubator and in normal birth: a reusable skin probe. Normally, it's plugged into an infant warmer, but they are using it in telemetry. It is being attached to the underarm and is hooked up to a
medical pack and data will be monitored in real time," Gliniecki said.

A medical team at the 18,000-foot base camp will receive, forward and track the information that is expected to reveal how individuals adapt to high altitudes as well as how their body responds to exercise and stress in the extreme environment. A portable 3-D tele-ultrasound has
also been made available to the team to transmit images of injuries that may occur to a doctor at Yale University School of Medicine, the medical team said.

"It is through the use of these technology capabilities that we hope to not only advance the medical science and understanding of high altitude physiology, but to reduce the risk to the climbers and possibly prevent or at least reduce casualties during this season's assault," the team said in a statement.

Advanced technologies previously developed at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command (MRMC) and the MIT Media Lab will be utilized to provide a high level of medical care.

The E3 expedition is being conducted by the NASA-Yale University Commercial Space Center for Medical Informatics and Technology Applications in conjunction with NASA, DARPA, U.S. Army MRMC, and MIT. The effort to augment medical support and test cutting-edge remote medical monitoring systems for climbers follows the 1996 disaster in which eight people died while ascending the mountain.

Gliniecki said the company is not only proud to be able to assist in the expedition, but the trial will provide valuable information about Sensor Scientific product's performance in the field.

"We don't get to see the end use of our products very much, and with this project we are receiving a lot of feedback. Its a whole other thing to put the product in the hardest environmental conditions, this is real life performance stuff. We're really anxious to see how it works out," Gliniecki said.

Reports emanating from MIT Media Labs communications indicate the climb is expected to begin this week. One climber and an attending sherpa, or climbing assistant, left base camp to ascend with some equipment, and the medical and communications team will soon find out whether its repeaters will work as anticipated.

Attendees at a telemedicine conference over the weekend in Charlestown, S.C., observed real time video and vital signs data from the climb site. The conference concluded Saturday.

E3's medical team includes James Bruton, Telemedicine Communications Specialist, Dr. Vincent Grasso, Medical Director and Surgeon, Scott Hamilton, Expedition Director and Medical Technician, Dr. Kenneth Kamler, High Altitude Medical Expert and Surgeon, Dr. Christian Macedonia, Physician and 3-D Ultrasound Specialist, Edward Mattes, Logistics Specialist and Medical Technician and Rick Satava, Jr. Base Camp Manager and Medical Technician.

The expedition's climbing team was assembled by Brad Washburn and The Mountain Zone. Brad Washburn, 88, is a cartographer and climber noted for his maps of Mt. McKinley, the Grand Canyon and Mt. Everest. He founded the Boston Museum of Science 50 years ago. The climbing team includes leader Wally Berg, who summited Everest for the third time in 1997. He was the first American to summit the nearby Himalayan peak, Lhotse.

British Charles Corfield makes his third expedition to Everest. The Cambridge University-trained mathematician researches astrophysics and works in Silicon Valley, Calif. David Mencin, 32, is an NSF researcher in geophysics. Eric Simonson, 42, is a professional climber and guide, and Greg Wilson is a guide owning his own service, Horizons. He has been on four American Everest expeditions and climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest in 1991.