# Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT)

> **NIH NIH U54** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $1,374,470

## Abstract

The advent of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic capabilities has enabled rapid and timely clinical evaluation in the
physician's office, an ambulance, the home, the field, or in the hospital and has the potential to significantly
impact health care delivery. In cardiology, pulmonology/critical care, and hematology, POC testing plays an
especially significant role as the heart and lungs are among the most vital of organs necessitating real time
diagnosis and rapid management during critical illnesses, while pathologic alternations in blood are associated
with critical, systemic illness. One class of novel medical technologies that is showing promise for POC
applications are microsystems-engineered technologies, that is, microchip-enabled devices ranging from
microelectromechanical systems (MEMs)-based sensors, microfluidics, to even smartphone-based systems.
Notable for their small size and power requirements, microchip-based systems provide the portability that is
vital for POC testing. In addition, the capability of microsystems to convert sound and movement into electrical
signals enable these technologies to be ideal devices to sense the dynamics of the lungs and heart and
therefore to diagnose and monitor pulmonary and cardiac disorders. Moreover, microsystems engineering has
brought forth the field of microfluidics, which is steadily finding applications for blood-based diagnostics, and
therefore, hematologic applications. To that end, per the NHLBI's U54 POCTRN guidelines, the overall goal of
the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered POC Technologies (ACME POCT) is to assist and enable
inventors from across the country who have developed microsystems-based POC technologies for cardiac,
pulmonary, hematologic and sleep applications that are beyond proof-of-concept to define their specific clinical
needs, conduct clinical validation, and refine their technology, with the objective of accelerating the path to
translation and clinical adoption and directly addressing the barriers thereof. The ACME POCT uniquely
leverages Atlanta's nationally top-ranked clinical programs at Emory University's hospitals and Children's
Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the nation's largest pediatric hospital systems, as well the internationally
acclaimed microsystems engineering expertise at Georgia Tech, which includes the Institute for Electronics
and Nanotechnology (IEN), and other one-of-a-kind medical device prototyping, innovation, and testbed
facilities. The ACME POCT PI's uniquely balance the engineering and clinical sides of the Center and
comprise Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD, a clinical hematologist at Emory and Georgia Tech bioengineer with expertise
in POC diagnostic development and commercialization, Oliver Brand, PhD, a renowned microsystems
engineer and head of Georgia Tech's IEN, and Greg Martin, MD, MSc, a clinical pulmonologist at Emory and
head of clinical research in Atlanta's NIH-funded CTSA. Importantly, the leadership of the ACME POCT has a
history of...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001330
- **Project number:** 5U54EB027690-03
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Oliver Brand
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,374,470
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-18 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001330

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001330, Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT) (5U54EB027690-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001330. Licensed CC0.

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