Kuhler Technologies receives $283,808 NIH award for palm-cooling research
, by Braeden Ostepchuk, 1 min reading time
A $283,808 NIH award supports research with Massachusetts General Hospital evaluating palm cooling and temperature recovery following controlled heat exposure.
Kuhler Technologies has received a $283,808 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to investigate portable palm cooling following controlled heat exposure.
The project brings together our engineering team and researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, with affiliations at Harvard Medical School, to evaluate Kühler through a randomized crossover clinical study.
What the study will investigate
The study will compare recovery following controlled heat exposure with and without Kühler. Its central question is whether targeted palm cooling changes how core body temperature recovers compared with recovery without the device.
Researchers will also examine heart rate, skin temperature, thermal comfort, fatigue, and device usability. The crossover design allows participants to experience both conditions, helping the team compare responses within the same individuals.
Working together to advance the research
We are excited to collaborate with Dr. Simmie Foster, Dr. Maren Nyer, Dr. David Mischoulon, and Mahsa Ghasemi at Massachusetts General Hospital, alongside scientific consultants Dr. Rachele Pojednic and Dr. Christopher Lowry.
Scientific research is essential to understanding how cooling interventions work, where they may be useful, and what their limitations are. This project gives us the opportunity to evaluate our technology under controlled conditions and contribute evidence to the broader field of human thermoregulation.
The award supports research in progress. Findings will be shared as they become available.
For our team, this is an exciting milestone in a journey that began with a copper pipe and a question about how to make cooling more practical.
Research reported in this post is supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R41ES038042. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
