Loats Associates, Inc. (LAI), based in Westminster, MD, was founded in January 1982 to provide cost-effective computer systems for the image analysis of spatially-distributed biological data. LAI is a privately-held company with offices and laboratory located in Westminster, Maryland, convenient to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, and Walter Reed Medical Facility at Bethesda.
LAI's first customer was the US Government Department of Agriculture. We developed proprietary technologies for acquiring and analyzing Satellite images using PCs. These systems were created on (then) state-of-the-art IBM PCs with no hard drives and only 64K of RAM. Since that time, PCs have shown to be adaptable to a wide range of data collection, communications, analysis and display requirements at price within the reach of most people.
Early in our development history we recognized that LAI's image analysis expertise would have important application to biomedicine and biotechnology. Our initial biomedical image analysis system was developed for the recognized scientific leader of quantitative autoradiography in the United States, Dr. Michael Kuhar at Johns Hopkins. This collaboration produced the first broadly used commercial automated autoradiography image analysis system. This system was subsequently licensed for sale to Amersham International Inc.
The LAI Autoradiographic Analysis System has been adapted for a number of related biomedical image analysis applications, including: receptor autoradiography, 1/2 D electrophoresis gel analysis, brain metabolism, quantitative microscopy and leaf disease identification.
In 1983, LAI expanded its image analysis technology to develop a line of low-cost biomedical Image Analysis Systems. Typical applications included a series of automated microscope analysis systems for the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI). These systems include the Colony Counting System, the Mitotic Index Scoring System, and the Cell Cycle Analysis System, which are all involved in cell population survival studies.
Over the past ten years, we have been incorporating automated microscopes into LAI's Image Analysis Systems for various applications. LAI has also developed a line of automated microscope systems directed toward the pharmaceutical toxicology market. The Micronuclei Assay System, Unscheduled DNA Synthesis System, and Metaphase Finding System are results of this effort. These systems are all based on the Windows™ environment for ease of use.
LAI's automated microscopy systems utilize a 16-slide stage designed by LAI. Also available is a robotic multi-slide system, which would eliminate the need for manual intervention for the duration of typical experiments.
LAI has also utilized its remote sensing and mathematical modeling expertise to study the environmental toxicity of pesticides, such as the run-off effect on gulf crustaceans of the pesticide Dimilin® and the toxic effect of the fruit-fumigant ethylene dibromide on humans. LAI developed mathematical models of aerial spray deposition to control pesticides in environmentally challenged areas and to investigate strategies for the control of coyotes in Wyoming using sodium fluoroacetate, and fire ants in Mississippi using Mirex®.
During its initial years of operation the principal customer for LAI services was the U.S. Federal Government. In responding to Federal requirements for analysis, LAI developed a proprietary technology for the acquisition and analysis of spatial information using microcomputer technology. Microcomputer technology was employed by LAI primarily due to its versatility and low cost which makes it adaptable to a wide range of data collection, communications, analysis and display requirements at price within the reach of most potential users.
The principals of LAI had developed special expertise in remote sensing data analysis and simulation modeling of natural resources systems in programs they performed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center. This expertise was then used in support of contracts for such diverse organizations as the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources; the Baltimore Regional Planning Council's Environmental Quality Division; the Baltimore County, Maryland Health Department, the U.S. Soil Conversation Service; and the United Nations Outer Space Affairs Division.
Based on the expertise in computer image analysis, a general SBIR research grant for the development of low-cost medical imaging systems was awarded to LAI by the National Cancer Institute. The purpose of this grant was to extend the concept of low-cost autoradiography imaging by providing a user friendly, microcomputer image system which could be used in any of a wide variety of neuroscience and other medical disciplines based on optical density variation. A family of low-cost, microcomputer-based image analysis systems was developed within the program, and resulted in broad commercial sales.
Following its initial introduction, the LAI Autoradiographic Analysis System has been adapted for a number of related biomedical image analysis applications, including: receptor autoradiography, 1D and 2D electrophoresis gel analysis, brain metabolism, quantitative microscopy and leaf disease identification. The most recent computer applications at LAI include advanced microcomputer workstations for multi-modal brain imaging and fusion, quantitative endoscopy and automated microscopy applications.
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Loats Associates, Inc. • 201 East Main Street • Westminster, MD 21157