# Enhancing the Commercialization Readiness of a Noninvasive Total Hemoglobin Monitor

> **NIH NIH SB1** · KESTREL LABS, INC. · 2021 · $170,172

## Abstract

Abstract
It is a rare event when new and useful medical parameters can be added to the suite of monitoring
and diagnostic tests available in a clinical setting. Of particular importance is the ability to measure
crucial physiological parameters or analytes in a continuous and noninvasive manner—evidenced by
the importance of noninvasive vital signs monitoring—because it reduces expense, eliminates delays
in diagnosis, and removes the potential for exposure to blood-borne pathogens.
This SBIR Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) program proposal is being submitted to further
the regulatory plan, intellectual property strategy, manufacturing readiness, and market launch plan
for a new patient monitor capable of accurate, noninvasive, and continuous measurements of total
hemoglobin (tHb) and oxygen saturation (SpO2). The measurement of total hemoglobin is a crucial
and frequently performed blood test used in nearly all areas of healthcare. The accurate
measurement of this parameter is particularly important for patients potentially requiring a transfusion,
receiving rapid administration of fluids, undergoing a surgical procedure, or having experienced
trauma that has resulted in significant blood loss. Total hemoglobin must also be measured for
anemia screening prior to blood donation. The new monitor will look much like a conventional pulse
oximeter, the ubiquitous vital-signs monitor that has been in widespread clinical use since the 1980s
and which uses a clothespin-like sensor to “shine” red and infrared light through the finger and report
a measure of the oxygen level in the arterial blood. The product realized from the current research
will not only provide a noninvasive and continuous measurement of total hemoglobin but also
noninvasively measure oxygen saturation with unprecedented precision and accuracy.
Successful completion of the proposed work will improve the commercial readiness of a pulse
oximeter capable of total hemoglobin and oxygen saturation measurements. It is the culmination of
the Company's efforts to prove that the high measurement precision provided by the use of narrow-
band lasers can make possible accurate noninvasive measurement of tHb on human subjects over
the full clinically-relevant tHb range. Availability of a noninvasive total hemoglobin monitor will help
diagnose anemic patients sooner and contribute to the judicious use of blood transfusions, all with
less pain or risk of infection while reducing the time burden on caregivers and costs to the healthcare
system. It could also eliminate the need for the painful fingersticks associated with blood donation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10214663
- **Project number:** 5SB1HL106860-05
- **Recipient organization:** KESTREL LABS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** JONAS ALEXANDER POLOGE
- **Activity code:** SB1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $170,172
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-09-22 → 2021-12-21

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10214663

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10214663, Enhancing the Commercialization Readiness of a Noninvasive Total Hemoglobin Monitor (5SB1HL106860-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10214663. Licensed CC0.

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