Johns Hopkins University

NCIIA-funded course at JHU generates new biomedical start-ups

Submitted by dave on Wed, 11/30/2011 - 10:24

A 2010 course and program grant awarded to Center of Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID, itself supported by an NCIIA Course and Program grant) at Johns Hopkins University has swiftly returned on its investment. Two biomedical device start-ups have spun out of the Master's Level Education in Bioengineering Innovation course:

Grant PI Bob Allen reports that so far 15 students have graduated from the program with MS degrees. JHPIEGO, JHU’s global health partner, is further developing two other projects from the grant: an electronic partogram and the antenatal screening kit (a 2010 E-Team grantee and Popular Science invention of the year).

 

Antenatal Screening Kit E-Team part of $24 million global health innovation project

Submitted by dave on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 08:32

An NCIIA grantee, the Antenatal Screening Kit team from Johns Hopkins University, will be part of a five year program to address global health challenges through affordable technologies.

Jhpiego, a global health nonprofit organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins, will lead a $24.9 million effort to expand its array of simple inexpensive lifesaving technologies to address today’s global health challenges.

In 2010 the Antenatal Screening Kit team received a $16,000 E-Team grant to develop a simple self-screening test for diseases such as pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, the second-leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide.

More about the team:

Pop Science selects Antenatal E-Team 'pen' as Invention of the Year

Submitted by dave on Wed, 05/18/2011 - 14:17

 

Since being selected to attend this year's Open Minds showcase in March, the Antenatal Screening Kit E-Team from Johns Hopkins University has earned a growing media following.

The team's invention, a suite of pens that can be used to screen expectant mothers for treatable diseases and health problems, has been featured in Popular Science's 'Invention of the Year' issue (June 2011, page 62).

The team was also featured in the JHU Gazette -- read the story here.

 

 

 

  

 

 

New E-Team - Antenatal Screening Kit - wins ABC/Duke Reinventing Maternal Health Challenge!

Submitted by dave on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 12:10

One of NCIIA's most recent E-Teams, the Antenatal Screening Kit team from Johns Hopkins University, has won the inaugural ABC/Duke University 'Reinventing Maternal Health Challenge.' The Challenge was devised in partnership with The Lemelson Foundation.

The JHU team has developed a screening kit - delivered through a pen - to provide low-cost healthcare to women in even the remotest villages. The kit includes a variety of custom markers pre-filled with reagents for screening tests for conditions including pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, malnutrition, and anemia.

Selected from more than 65 video entries submitted by university students internationally, the JHU team will be awarded $10,000 and will be provided mentoring and support from The Lemelson Foundation.

 

Minimally Invasive Device for Harvesting Iliac Crest Bone Graft

Johns Hopkins University, 2010 - $20,000

There are over 1.5 million spinal fusion surgeries performed annually worldwide. Bone grafting is the standard practice in orthopedic medicine to foster restoration and healing of the spine in addition to providing structural and biological support. The current gold standard for graft materials is the autologous bone graft, which uses cancellous bone from the patient’s own hip (clinically termed the iliac crest bone graft or ICBG). ICBG produces the best results, but it must be extracted through an invasive procedure that is cumbersome for the surgeon and painful for the patient. There is currently no specialized device designed to extract sufficient volumes of ICBG for spinal surgery without high risk to the patient.

This team’s goal is to dramatically improve the procedure for extracting ICBG. The device will be minimally invasive, will standardize the harvesting procedure, and will allow for safe extraction of large volumes of ICBG. This will increase spinal fusion success rates while reducing patient morbidity, surgical time, and healthcare expenditures.

Antenatal Screening Kit: Improving Maternal Health Worldwide

Johns Hopkins University, 2010 - $16,000

Each year, nearly 600,000 women die worldwide as a result of complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. In South Asia, barely 50% of women have access to antenatal care, and as a result millions of women over the years have died avoidable deaths.

This team is developing a kit consisting of rapid and cost-effective point-of-care tests to screen expectant mothers for various readily treatable diseases and health problems that can lead to complications during pregnancy. The kit contains different marker pens pre-filled with reagents and a special booklet. A simple mark on a piece of paper by the test pen creates a dipstick for urine, and results in an easily read color change, telling the healthcare worker if action is needed. The kit provides a 10 to 100 fold cost reduction in the cost of tests and longer shelf life for reagents in challenging environments.

The team is partnered with Jhpiego, a leading global NGO in maternal/child healthcare, which will provide access to test populations and marketing strategy development assistance.

Updates:

Antenatal Screening Kit profile

Antenatal Screening kit

Johns Hopkins University

Every second four babies are born across the world, totaling about 130 million births per year. Unfortunately, complications cause 6.3 million maternal and perinatal deaths per year, with the vast majority of those deaths occurring in developing countries—deaths that in many cases could have been prevented with basic interventions. But in some countries, up to half of expectant mothers do not have access to healthcare during their pregnancies.

This team of biomedical engineers is working closely with Jhpiego, the leading NGO in maternal and child healthcare, to develop an antenatal screening kit to deliver low-cost healthcare to women in even the remotest villages. The kit includes a variety of custom markers pre-filled with reagents for screening tests. The tests are intuitive and simple to use, allowing a semi-trained community health worker to mark a piece of paper and create a custom dipstick for the mother. The kit contains seven tests for conditions including pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, malnutrition, and anemia. The team is pilot testing the kit in Nepal.

back to complete list of Open Minds 2011 teams

Sustainable Medical Device Innovation for Developing Countries

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Johns Hopkins University, 2010 - $41,500

This grant supports a new course, Sustainable Medical Device Innovation for Developing Countries, in Johns Hopkins’ Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID). The course, being developed as a core requirement for a new one-year MS program at CBID, will have the explicit aim of training students in the process of identification, invention and implementation of healthcare technologies that solve clinical problems in developing countries.

Students will learn through immersive clinical experience, partnering with hospitals and community health centers in South Asia and Southern Africa. Over the course of two semesters, they will work in teams to invent and prototype multiple solutions to problems they identify, develop a clinical trial plan, identify manufacturing partners, and develop an appropriate business model. Once the projects reach a certain level of maturity, teams will receive intensive mentoring on how to pursue further funding opportunities to fully implement their ideas (Gates Foundation, USAID, etc.).

Master's Level Education in Bioengineering Innovation

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Over the last four years, the Center of Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID, supported by an NCIIA Course and Program grant) within the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University has planned and launched a one-year master’s program focusing on the identification, creation and implementation of novel health care technologies.

This grant will fund prototype development costs for graduate student teams developing technologies in the CBID. Feedback from VCs and others emphasized the importance of developing very strong prototypes in order to increase the chances for securing funding and support. Faculty also plan to expand the program from twelve to fifteen students, and require teams to increase the number of and improve the quality of prototypes developed over the span of the program.

Updates:

Two biomedical device start-ups have spun out of the Master's Level Education in Bioengineering Innovation course:

Grant PI Bob Allen reports that so far 15 students have graduated from the program with MS degrees. JHPIEGO, JHU’s global health partner, is further developing two other projects from the grant: an electronic partogram and the antenatal screening kit (a 2010 E-Team grantee and Popular Science invention of the year).

Rapid Hypothermia Induction Device team (Johns Hopkins) wins BMEidea 2010

Submitted by dave on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 10:40

The winners of BMEidea 2010 were announced today, at the MD&M trade show in New York City. In first place, winning $10,000, is the Rapid Hypothermia Induction Device team from Johns Hopkins University.

Second place and $2,500 went to the Low-cost Ventilator (OneBreath) team from Stanford University. Third place and $1,000 went to the Natural Orifice Volume Enlargement (NOVEL) Device team from University of Cincinnati.

Read more about the finalists and see their prototypes here.

And read Medgadget.com's story on BMEidea 2010.

 

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