StemRad

StemRad is an Israeli-American start-up company that develops and manufactures personal protective equipment (PPE) against ionizing radiation. Its first product was the 360 Gamma, a device that protects the user's pelvic bone marrow from gamma radiation.[1] Its second product, AstroRad, is currently being tested at the International Space Station.[2]

StemRad Ltd. / StemRad Inc.
IndustryPersonal protective equipment
Founded2011
FoundersOren Milstein and Daniel Levitt
Headquarters
Tampa, Florida, United States
Tel Aviv, Israel
Websitewww.stemrad.com

History

StemRad was founded in December 2011 by Oren Milstein and Daniel Levitt. They were inspired to create the company by the Chernobyl disaster where many of the firemen and engineers, who were first on the scene, died from high doses of gamma radiation in an illness known as Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness. This idea was fueled by a sense of urgency due to the growing nuclear threat on the state of Israel. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, the two partnered with Roger Kornberg, Aaron Ciechanover and Michael Levitt.[3]

Products

360 Gamma
360 Gamma radiation protective device for first responders

The 360 Gamma is a 14 kg (31 lb) belt designed to protect the pelvic area against gamma radiation. It is meant to be worn by first responders (fire fighters, paramedics, police and the military), that would be exposed to radiation in the event of a nuclear emergency.[4][5][6][7] It does not attempt to protect the whole body of the wearer, but rather selectively protects the bone marrow-rich pelvic region.[6] It is offered as a solution for acute radiation syndrome (ARS),[8] a major component of which is bone marrow failure.[9]

AstroRad
AstroRad vest on ISS
AstroRad exhibit at the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space

AstroRad is personal protective equipment for astronauts to be worn beyond low Earth orbit which was co-developed by StemRad and Lockheed Martin.[10] AstroRad protects bone marrow to prevent acute radiation sickness but is further expanded to also protect the lungs, stomach, colon, breast and ovaries – organs that are particularly sensitive to the development of cancer due to chronic exposure to radiation.[11] In April 2018 it was announced that the Israeli Space Agency signed an agreement with NASA[12] and the German Aerospace Center[13] to test AstroRad aboard an uncrewed flight of NASA's Orion, on a mission named Artemis 1.[14][15]

As a test before its planned use in deep space, an AstroRad vest launched to the International Space Station in low Earth orbit on November 2, 2019 aboard Cygnus NG-12.[16] The functional shielding material is made of high-density polyethylene or HDPE.[17][18]

StemRad MD
StemRad MD radiation protective device at work in Tampa General Hospital

Another technology of StemRad is the StemRad MD protective system, an ergonomically efficient protective suit designed for interventional radiologists and other physicians who perform medical imaging using ionizing radiation, most notable fluoroscopy.[19] This technology was designed to increase whole-body protection, particularly to the head, while providing physicians relatively free-range motion capabilities while operating. For ergonomic relief, the StemRad MD system uses a proprietary exoskeleton system that transfers the system's shielding weight to the floor, reducing the possibilities of musculoskeletal strain.[19][20][21][22][23]

The protective ensemble consists of four main parts: a protective apron, a protective visor, a thyroid collar, and an exoskeletal system. The protective apron is of a state-of-the-art bismuth-antimony bilayer composition and offers 0.5mm lead-equivalent protection with a small overlap area of 1mm in the front.[19][24] The visor is made up of a transparent lead-acrylic material and is designed to provide full head and eye protection, areas that are many times exposed in users of standard lead aprons.[25][26] It is positioned at an angle so that it blocks most of the radiation coming from underneath and allows the physician to wear unshielded prescription glasses while performing procedures.[19] The thyroid collar is unique in the sense that it is integrated into the protective apron component and is flush with the bottom side of the protective visor.[19]

References
  1. "The Belt That Protects Against Gamma Radiation". www.popularmechanics.com. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  2. "Israeli radiation protection vest blasts off to Int'l Space Station". The Jerusalem Post. November 3, 2019.
  3. "Dismantling the Bomb: meet the scientists that will cause humanity to stop worrying about nuclear threats". The Marker.
  4. "Stemrad Makes Belt to Protect Users From Radiation Exposure". Jewish Business News.
  5. "Israeli Company Invents Nuclear Proof Vest That Protects Against Toxic Radiation". The Algemeiner.
  6. Radiation belt a new line of defence in nuclear emergency. Reuters
  7. "'Anti-radiation belt' developed by Israeli firm for nuclear emergencies". RT.
  8. "StemRad: Innovation in Radiation Protection". Israel Innovation Authority. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  9. "Acute Radiation Syndrome: A Fact Sheet for Clinicians". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. "Space Florida, Israel Innovation Authority Announce Sixth Round Winners of Innovation Partner Funding". Space Florida. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  11. "Tissue weighting factors according to ICRP 103 (ICRP 2007)". European Commission. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  12. "NASA Acting Administrator and Israel Space Agency Director General Sign Agreement". nasa.gov. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  13. "Tracking cosmic radiation – To the Moon and back with ISA and NASA". dlr.de. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  14. Anti Radiation Vest to Get Deep-Space Test Next Year. Leonard Davis, Space. 15 May 2018.
  15. New Israeli radiation protection development to be launched into space. www.embassies.gov.il
  16. "AstroRad on the ISS". The Embassy of Israel to the United States. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  17. AstroRad. European Space Agency]]. 25 January 2019.
  18. Gaza, Razvan. "International Science Aboard Orion EM-1: The Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) Payload" (PDF). nasa.gov. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  19. "StemRad MD".
  20. Ross, Allan M.; Segal, Jerome; Borenstein, David; Jenkins, Ellen; Cho, Shuyan (January 1997). "Prevalence of Spinal Disc Disease Among Interventional Cardiologists". The American Journal of Cardiology. 79 (1): 68–70. doi:10.1016/S0002-9149(96)00678-9.
  21. Goldstein, James A.; Balter, Stephen; Cowley, Michael; Hodgson, John; Klein, Lloyd W.; on behalf of the Interventional Committee of the Society of Cardiovascular Interventions (December 2004). "Occupational hazards of interventional cardiologists: Prevalence of orthopedic health problems in contemporary practice". Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. 63 (4): 407–411. doi:10.1002/ccd.20201. ISSN 1522-1946.
  22. Orme, Nicholas M.; Rihal, Charanjit S.; Gulati, Rajiv; Holmes, David R.; Lennon, Ryan J.; Lewis, Bradley R.; McPhail, Ian R.; Thielen, Kent R.; Pislaru, Sorin V.; Sandhu, Gurpreet S.; Singh, Mandeep (March 2015). "Occupational Health Hazards of Working in the Interventional Laboratory". Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 65 (8): 820–826. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2014.11.056.
  23. Dehmer, Gregory J.; Members of the Joint Inter-Society Task Force on Occupational Hazards in the Catheterization Laboratory (December 2006). "Occupational hazards for interventional cardiologists". Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. 68 (6): 974–976. doi:10.1002/ccd.21004.
  24. Büermann, L. (2016-09-06). "Determination of lead equivalent values according to IEC 61331-1:2014—Report and short guidelines for testing laboratories". Journal of Instrumentation. 11 (09): T09002–T09002. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/09/T09002. ISSN 1748-0221.
  25. Rajaraman, Preetha; Doody, Michele M.; Yu, Chu Ling; Preston, Dale L.; Miller, Jeremy S.; Sigurdson, Alice J.; Freedman, D. Michal; Alexander, Bruce H.; Little, Mark P.; Miller, Donald L.; Linet, Martha S. (May 2016). "JOURNAL CLUB: Cancer Risks in U.S. Radiologic Technologists Working With Fluoroscopically Guided Interventional Procedures, 1994-2008". American Journal of Roentgenology. 206 (5): 1101–1109. doi:10.2214/AJR.15.15265. ISSN 0361-803X.
  26. Seals, Kevin F.; Lee, Edward W.; Cagnon, Christopher H.; Al-Hakim, Ramsey A.; Kee, Stephen T. (February 2016). "Radiation-Induced Cataractogenesis: A Critical Literature Review for the Interventional Radiologist". CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology. 39 (2): 151–160. doi:10.1007/s00270-015-1207-z. ISSN 0174-1551.
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