University of Pittsburgh, Center for Medical Innovation

CMI awards four novel biomedical devices with $95,000 total Round-1 2015 Pilot Funding

By Yash Mokashi, CMI Fellow

PITTSBURGH (August 5, 2015) … The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) awarded grants totaling $95,000 to four research groups through its 2015 Round-1 Pilot Funding Program for Early Stage Medical Technology Research and Development. The latest funding proposals include developing a patient monitoring wristband, a novel material to prevent thrombosis in vascular stents, a neuro-stimulation device to prevent bed-wetting in children, and a novel method for treatment of sickle cell anemia.

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 fourth 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
George Stuart Mendenhall M.D.    
Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Vascular Medicine Institute

Mingui Sun, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and BioEngineering

FOR: An interactive, real time wearable system for remote cardiac monitoring
Award to design, build and test a wearable physiological monitoring system for use in intensive care.

AWARD 2
Luka Pocivavsek, M.D., PhD
Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Sachin Velankar, PhD  
Professor of Chemical Engineering

FOR:  Design of Artificial Polymeric Cylindrical Vascular Grafts with Tunable Luminal Topography
Award to develop a new, non-thrombogenic dynamic material for vascular stents.

AWARD 3
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 sickle cell disease patients using a novel method of replacing HbS with donor Hb in autologous RBCs
Award to develop a novel method for treating sickle cell anemia.

AWARD 4
Changfeng Tai, PhD
Associate Professor of Urology, UPMC

Heidi Stephany, MD
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Mingui Sun, PhD
Professor of Electrical Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering

FOR: Prevent Bedwetting in Children by Foot Neuromodulation
Award to apply a new technology to prevent bedwetting in children.

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.