Ben Evans, assistant professor of physics, has been awarded patent #8,586,368 for a medical diagnostic device which measures blood coagulation.
The patent granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office titled “Methods and Systems for Using Actuated Surface-Attached Posts for Assessing Biofluid Rheology” was the result of a collaboration between Evans and researchers Rich Superfine, Richard Spero, Adam Shields and Briana Fiser at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The invention is a medical diagnostic device which uses the motion of microscopic magnetic structures to detect the rate of coagulation in a patient’s blood. Evans specifically contributed the development of the magnetic microstructures on which the device is based.
Evans has previously published this work in , the , and at a national meeting of the Biophysical Society. The full text of the patent can be reviewed .