NASA

KromaTiD has a strong relationship with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and its SBIR/STTR grant program to foster innovation that may be helpful to the space program. KromaTiD received a Phase I SBIR grant award from NASA in 2009 and a Phase II award in 2010. In doing so, NASA recognized the potential utility of KromaTiD’s technology for assessing long-term effects of cosmic radiation exposure at the cellular level, particularly as it relates to detection of chromosome inversions in blood lymphocytes. The application of KromaTiD’s innovative technology to radiation biodosimetry promises to be ultra sensitive and stable over time, making it possible to compare health risk changes before and after defined periods of increased radiation exposure, such as occurs during space flight.

Applications of KromaTiD technology beyond space flight may be in assessing the long-term risks of low-level radiation exposure, such as might result from multiple CT scans, or in assessing health consequences of dirty bomb events or nuclear energy plant accidents, such as occurred at Chernobyl in 1986.

 NASA