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Sensatex developing wireless medical monitoring shirt

DALLAS-With initial funding from Seed One Ventures L.L.C., a new company called Sensatex has formed to develop a special type of shirt that allows doctors to monitor the vital signs of the wearer.

The solution is centered on the Smart Shirt, a shirt made of special fabric interwoven with sensors that can provide an ongoing stream of information while the patient goes about daily activities. Supporting this is the Smart Shirt platform, which doctors can use to monitor this information, which is sent to the doctor wirelessly.

“The Smart Shirt is essentially a `wearable motherboard’-a computer in the form of a T-shirt,” said Jeffrey Wolf, Sensatex chief executive officer. “Our plan is to build the operating systems and wireless platform for the Smart Shirt and work with others to develop specific applications for the platform.”

Possible applications include infant monitoring and geriatric care, he added.

Lynn Whittington, formerly chief technologist for Motorola Inc.’s Network Architecture and Technology Organization, recently was hired as the firm’s chief technology officer.

“He will focus on defining, designing, developing and integrating the system for real-time acquisition, transmission, processing, management and presentation of critical health-care data,” Wolf said.

The company is exploring various wireless technologies, including commercially available networks, and said it chose Dallas for its headquarters because of the wireless telecom businesses located there.

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