Pitt’s Center
for Medical Innovation awards six novel biomedical devices with $140,000 total
Round-1 2016 Pilot Funding
PITTSBURGH (July 12, 2016) … The University
of Pittsburgh’s Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) awarded grants totaling $140,000
to six research groups through its 2016 Round-1 Pilot
Funding Program for Early Stage Medical Technology Research and Development. The
latest funding proposals include developing a novel vascular access system, a
shunt for treatment of fetal hydrocephalus in utero, a system for stroke
rehabilitation, a cell therapy for treatment of aortic aneurysm, a method for
treatment of sickle cell anemia, and a novel mechanical device for use in
general surgery.
CMI, a University
Center housed in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering (SSOE), supports applied
technology projects in the early stages of development with “kickstart” funding
toward the goal of transitioning the research to clinical adoption. Proposals are
evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, technical and clinical relevance,
potential health care impact and significance, experience of the investigators,
and potential in obtaining further financial investment to translate the particular
solution to healthcare.
“This is our fifth year of pilot funding, and our leadership team could not be
more excited with the breadth and depth of this round’s awardees,” said Alan D.
Hirschman, PhD, CMI Executive Director. “This early-stage interdisciplinary
research helps to develop highly specific biomedical technologies through a
proven strategy of linking UPMC’s clinicians and surgeons with the Swanson
School’s engineering faculty.”
AWARD 1
Cameron
Dezfulian, MD
Assistant Professor,
Critical Care and Clinical and Translation Medicine Scientist,
Vascular Medicine
Institute
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine
William Clark, PhD
Professor, Mechanical
Engineering & Materials Science
Swanson School of
Engineering
FOR:
Electro-targeted Vascular
Access: A novel way to quickly and accurately place peripheral and central
venous catheters
Award to design, build and test an
advanced vascular catheter and guidance system for rapid, accurate placement in
critical care.
AWARD 2
Stephen P. Emery,
MD
Associate
Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine
Youngjae Chun,
PhD
Assistant
Professor
Industrial
Engineering Department
Bioengineering
Department (Secondary)
Swanson School of Engineering
Stephanie Greene,
MD
Assistant Professor of
Neurosurgery
University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine
FOR:
VASFAS (Ventriculo-Amniotic Shunt for Fetal Aqueductal Stenosis).
Continuation award for preclinical
testing of a newly developed shunt to treat fetal hydrocephalus in-utero.
AWARD 3
Amit Sethi, PhD,
OTR/L
Assistant Professor, Department
of Occupational Therapy
School of Health and
Rehabilitation Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Ervin Sejdić, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department
of Electrical and Computer Science Engineering
Swanson School of Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
FOR:
I-HITS: Individualized hand improvement
and tracking system after stroke
Continuation award for development and
clinical evaluation of a system to track therapeutic progress in stroke
patients with impaired upper extremity function.
AWARD 4
Kory Blose
PhD candidate, Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh
Justin Weinbaum, PhD
Assistant Professor, Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh
Ryan McEnaney, MD
Division of Vascular Surgery, UPMC
John Curci, MD,
Division of Vascular Surgery, UPMC
FOR:
Minimally invasive delivery of
therapeutic cells to abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Award to develop and perform
preclinical testing of a new biological therapy for prevention and treatment of
abdominal aortic aneurysm.
AWARD 5
Marina V. Kameneva,
PhD
Department of Surgery and Bioengineering
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Jonathan H. Waters,
MD
Department of Anesthesiology & Bioengineering
Magee Womens Hospital
Mark Gartner, PhD
Department of Bioengineering
University of
Pittsburgh
FOR:
Reducing alloimmunization and
sickle crisis in SCD patients using a novel method of replacing HbS with donor
Hb in patient’s RBCs.
Continuation award to develop and test
a new method for reconditioning the blood of sickle cell patients.
AWARD 6
Pete Allen, MD.
UPMC Mercy Department of General Surgery
Garth Elias, MD.
UPMC Mercy Department of General Surgery
UPMC Mercy Trauma and Burn Center
Jeffrey S. Vipperman, PhD.
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of
Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering and
Materials Science
FOR: A motorized flexible
arm retractor for open abdominal surgery.
Continuation award for development and
testing of a novel mechanical device which improves and simplifies the
management of surgical devices in the OR.
About the Center for Medical
Innovation
The Center for Medical Innovation at the Swanson School of Engineering is a
collaboration among the University of Pittsburgh’s Clinical and Translational
Science Institute (CTSI), the Office of Technology Management (OTM), and the
Coulter Translational Research Partnership II (CTRP). CMI was established in
2011 to promote the application and development of innovative biomedical
technologies to clinical problems; to educate the next
generation of innovators in cooperation with the schools of Engineering, Health
Sciences, Business, and Law; and to facilitate the translation of innovative
biomedical technologies into marketable products and services in cooperation
with OTM and in partnership with CTRP.
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7/18/2016