The University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) awarded grants totaling $65,000 to three proposals through its 2017 Round-1 Pilot Funding Program for Early Stage Medical Technology Research and Development. Two of the three projects funded include McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members as part of their leadership teams. Award details include:
Objective Postpartum Uterine Tone Monitoring
Funds development of a new prototype uterine tone measurement device for eventual testing in the clinical setting. The device would evaluate intra-uterine muscle tone for detection of and control of postpartum bleeding.
Gerhardt Konig, MD
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Jason Shoemaker, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering
OrganEvac/Whole Organ Sonothrombolysis Device
This award is an equal participation between the Center for Medical Innovation and the Coulter Translational Research Partners II Program at Pitt. The early stage seed grant will demonstrate proof of concept that sonothrombolysis technology can greatly enhance viability of transplanted liver tissue through evaluation of thromboemboli in excised, non-transplantable human liver tissue.
Paulo Fontes, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Director of the Machine Perfusion Program, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
John Pacella, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Heart and Vascular Institute
Flordeliza Villaneuva, MD
Vice Chair for Pre-Clinical Research, Department of Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Director, Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
CMI, a University Center housed in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, 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 sixth year of pilot funding,” said Alan Hirschman, PhD, CMI Executive Director and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member. “Since our inception, more than $1 million from external funding sources and from the Swanson School of Engineering has been invested in early stage medical technologies. Many of these technologies have the potential to significantly improve the delivery of health care and several new companies have resulted from the program, which has successfully partnered UPMC’s clinicians and surgeons with the Swanson School’s engineering faculty.”
Illustration: Center for Medical Innovation.
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University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering News Release