CMI Awards First Round of Seed Grants

The Center for Medical Innovation (CMI), in connection with the Department of Bioengineering, has made awards to three projects in its 2026 Round-1 Early Stage Translational Research Seed Grant competition. These awards allow for the further development of innovative concepts in translational medicine created by teams of clinicians, SSOE engineers, and their students. 

The awards, totaling $32,000, are granted to the following project teams: 

“A Collapsible and Retrievable Epidural Lead Array (CARELA) System” 

Trent Emerick, MD, MBA, Jung-Kun Lee, PhD, & Youngjae Chun, PhD

For development and testing of a novel prototype that allows for the minimally invasive insertion of specialized spinal pain control devices for chronic lower back pain. 

“Injectable Antimicrobial Osteoinductive Hydrogel for Extremity Open Fractures” 

Gabrielle Lorenz, B.S., Juan Taboas, M.S., PhD, Kevin Bell, PhD, Kenneth Urish, MD, PhD

For development and testing of a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and osteoinductive therapeutic that overcomes microbial contamination, compromised regenerative cell pool, and prolonged inflammation associated with the regeneration of open bone wounds.

“Developing Methods for Rapid Hemolysis Detection In Extracorporeal Circuits” 

Madison Butler, Nahman Kim-Campbell, MD 

For development and testing of a novel device that diverts low volumes of plasma from an extracorporeal circuit for optical measurement, allowing for rapidly identified hemolysis.