CIMIT blog

"How to Catch a Wave in Medical Robotics" Presented by CIMIT Investigator on March 2, 2012

The Consulate-General of Japan in Boston and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center cordially invite you to attend an exclusive seminar “How to Catch a Wave in Medical Robotics” presented by Dr. Nobuhiko Hata, a prominent Japanese researcher at Brigham & Women's Hospital and CIMIT Investigator.

Date and Time:
March 2 from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Presenter:
Dr. Nobuhiko Hata, Associate Professor of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and CIMIT Investigator

Seminar Description:
Medical robotics is emerging as an enabling technology for a minimally invasive alternative to traditional treatment. Commercial success of robotized high-dexterity tools in laparoscopy has ignited world-wide commercial interest to explore the business opportunity of medical robotics and image-guided therapies. Dr. Hata will address the potential of medical robotics, its future direction, and its unmet needs based on his own experience of developing and deploying medical robots and associated technology. In particular, he will present his recent successful experience in US-Japan collaborations in medical robotics research that produced commercial deployment of affiliated technology. He will highlight the complementary strengths of US and Japanese research and development, the former being more strong in software and system development, and the latter being more focused on device research.

Location:
Office Residence of the Consul General of Japan in Boston
142 Clyde Street
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-2902

More Information:
» Download event flyer

RSVP by Thursday, February 23:
Email Mariko Yanagita at jresearchers@cgjbos.org with your name, affiliation, position and email address. (As space is limited, it will be first come first serve.)

CIMIT Investigators Develop New Drug Release Mechanism Utilizing 3-D Superhydrophobic Materials

According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, this new mechanism uses air as a removable barrier to control the rate at which drug is release

According to a recent study, there is a new mechanism of drug release using 3D superhydrophobic materials that utilizes air as a removable barrier to control the rate at which drug is released.

The study was electronically published on January 16, 2012 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Boston University (BU) graduate student Stefan Yohe, under the mentorship of Mark Grinstaff, PhD, BU professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry,  and Yolonda Colson, MD, PhD, director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Cancer Center, prepared drug-loaded superhydrophobic meshes from biocompatible polymers using an electrospinning fabrication method.

By monitoring drug release in aqueous solution and mesh performance in cytotoxicity assays, the team demonstrated that the rate of drug release correlates with the removal of the air pocket within the material, and that the rate of drug release can be maintained over an extended period.

"The ability to control drug release over a 2-3 month period is of significant clinical interest in thoracic surgery with applications in pain management and in the prevention of tumor recurrence after surgical resection," said Colson. Colson is also a thoracic surgeon at BWH with an active practice focused on the treatment of lung cancer patients.

This approach along with the design requirements for creating 3D superhydrophobic drug-loaded materials, the authors write, should facilitate further exploration and evaluation of these drug delivery materials in a variety of cancer and non-cancer applications.

This research was supported by Boston University, Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology, Coulter Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

STORY SOURCE

The above story is reprinted materials provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). For further information, please contact BWH.

JOURNAL REFERENCE

Stefan T. Yohe, Yolonda L. Colson, Mark W. Grinstaff. Superhydrophobic Materials for Tunable Drug Release: Using Displacement of Air To Control Delivery Rates. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012; 120118151911004 DOI: 10.1021/ja211148a

CIMIT Names 2012 Recipients of Young Clinician Research Awards

Eight Clinicians Win $50,000 to Fund Transformative Innovations in Healthcare Research

CIMIT Contact: Steve Schachter, MD, CIMIT Chief Academic Officer
Email: sschacht@bidmc.harvard.edu

CIMIT is pleased to announce that eight promising medical professionals have been named recipients of the Young Clinician Research Award for 2012.

The 2012 Young Clinician Research Award Program encourages physicians, new to their research careers, to create transformative innovations in healthcare delivery workflows, enabled by novel, interoperable medical technologies. Applicants were nominated by Site Miners from the CIMIT consortium member hospitals.

AWARDEE	INSTITUTION	PROJECT TITLE
Khalid Hanafy, MD	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	Exploring near infrared spectroscopy for detection of delayed cerebral ischemia in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients
Daniel R. Seichepine, PhD	Boston Medical Center	Development of preliminary clinical diagnostic criteria for chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Arielle Stanford, MD	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Staged treatment development for avolition
William Meehan, MD	Children's Hospital Boston	Transcranial light emitting diode therapy for the treatment of chronic concussive brain injury
Brian Edlow, MD	Massachusetts General Hospital	Advanced MRI neural network analysis for predicting recovery of consciousness after traumatic coma
Lee Park, MD	Newton-Wellesley Hospital	Analyzing hospital readmissions to design interventions
Leslie Morse, DO	Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (Partners Affiliate)	Cardiac atrophy and exercise-induced cardiac remodeling in chronic SCI
Naren Gupta, MBBS, PhD	VA Boston Healthcare System	An integrated clinical system to reduce stroke risk in patients with carotid disease

“With this award we want to encourage young clinicians to explore new ways of using technology to improve healthcare, especially to patients impacted by devastating neurological and psychological traumas and disease,” said CIMIT CEO John Parrish, MD. “Their innovative research brings new techniques and technologies to make a significant difference in the lives of millions of patients worldwide including our country's wounded warriors.”

The selection panel was seeking “rising stars” in the CIMIT clinical research community working on innovations within and across care environments as part of CIMIT's NeuroHealth and Integrated Clinical Environments’ (ICE) initiative. Awards were given to researchers at each of the eight clinically-focused health care consortium institutions: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System.

Those eligible included clinical researchers early in their careers, such as Fellows, Instructors and Assistant Professors. A key criterion was the clinician’s desire to solve complex healthcare problems.

Other criteria for selection included fitting in with the CIMIT mission; the potential impact of the clinician’s work on patient care; the collaborative nature of the planned work; the innovativeness of the research; the academic excellence of the candidate; and the potential of the candidate to become a “rising star” with a future as a clinical leader in the field.

Site miners at the institutions who helped identify promising candidates are the following: BIDMC, Leo E. Otterbein, PhD; BU/BMC, George O’Connor, MD; BWH, Kirby Vosburgh, PhD and Frederick Schoen, MD, PhD; CHB, Martha Murray, MD and Frank Pigula, MD; MGH, Rajiv Gupta, MD, PhD; NWH, Keith Isaacson, MD; SRH, Ross Zafonte, DO; and VA BHS, Brian Hoffman, MD.

Nanoscale Biological Coating Developed at MIT Could Prevent Battlefield Deaths

web.mit.edu (January 10, 2012) — MIT engineers have developed a nanoscale biological coating that can halt bleeding nearly instantaneously, an advance that could dramatically improve survival rates for soldiers injured in battle.

Read full story on web.mit.edu >>

CIMIT Grant Funding Colonoscopy in a Capsule Research at Brigham & Women's

bostonglobe.com (January 9, 2012) — Funded with $200,000 in grants from the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are now developing a “swimming capsule’’ that they hope will combine the best of both approaches—the control of the endoscope with the safety and ease of a pill.

Read full story on bostonglobe.com >>

New University Research Center in Baltimore May Emulate CIMIT Model

baltimoresun.com (January 5, 2012) — Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has called for the establishment of a center in Baltimore for the state's top two public research universities to seek funding of joint projects — a step toward his eventual goal of "reunification" for the institutions. System leaders have preliminarily discussed modeling the center on the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.

Read full story on baltimoresun.com >>

Learn about the CIMIT Model >>

Online Submission Process Open for 2012 Prize for Primary Healthcare

Prize for Primary Healthcare Contact: cimitprize@partners.org

About the Prize

The Prize for Primary Healthcare is an annual national competition encouraging engineering students to develop creative technological innovations with great potential to catalyze and support improved delivery of care at the frontlines of medicine. It is open to graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in accredited engineering programs.

Technologies of particular interest are ones that could improve access to medical care, leverage the skill of caregivers, automate routine tasks, increase workflow efficiency, support patients managing chronic disease, increase compliance with care protocols, reduce medical error, or augment the physician-patient relationship.

Prize Awards

• First Prize: $150,000
• Second Prize: $100,000
• Third Prize: $50,000
• Ten Finalists: $10,000 each

Timeline for Award Process

• January 2, 2011: Submission process opens
• January 16, 2012: Pre-proposals due
• February 15, 2012: Ten finalists selected & $10,000 distributed to each
• June 3, 2012: Full proposals due from 10 finalists
• July 2, 2012: Top three winners announced & major awards distributed

RFA Supporting Documents and Instructions

• Instructions for Online Submission of Letter of Intent
• Request for Applications (RFA) Letter of Intent Guidelines
• Student Prize Coversheet
• Full Proposal Evaluation Criteria
• Full Proposal Guidelines
• Frequently Asked Questions

This Prize for Primary Healthcare competition is sponsored by the Gelfand Family Charitable Trust. CIMIT is a non-profit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools.

Dr. Steven Schachter Presents 9th Judith Hoyer Lecture at Annual American Epilepsy Society Meeting

Steven Schachter, MD, CIMIT Chief Academic Officer and Neurotechnology Program Leader, was this year's featured Hoyer Lecture speaker on December 3 at the 65th annual American Epilepsy Society Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

The ninth in a series of lectures, Schachter emphasized looking into the day-to-day aspects of epilepsy, such as the experience of seizures from the point of view of someone having a seizure and how artwork and music can inspire research because they underscore the perspectives of people affected by epilepsy. An accompanying slideshow of artwork he has collected over the years by talented people affected by epilepsy demonstrated the importance of responding holistically to patients.

Also part of the Judith Hoyer lecture was a musical rendition of a seizure, performed by the Grammy-nominated Relache Ensemble, titled When the Spirit Catches You. The contemporary piece was written by composer and assistant professor at Temple University, Cynthia Folio, who has a daughter, Lydia, with epilepsy. Lydia narrated the visual presentation that accompanied the musical performance.

Read more about the 2011 Judith Hoyer Lecture on Epilepsy:
» A More Complete Picture of Seizures and Their Implications by Lisa Boylan
» Inside the Heads of Epilepsy Patients by Gordy Slack

About Judith Hoyer Lecture on Epilepsy

The Judith Hoyer Lecture on Epilepsy is a lecture series held in memory of Mrs. Judith Hoyer, an active member of the Board of Directors of the Epilepsy Foundation and the late wife of Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD). Mrs. Hoyer spent her life both helping families to cope with epilepsy and promoting research into a cure and a better quality of life for those with the disorder. The purpose of the lecture is to raise awareness of epilepsy among researchers and the public and provide intellectual stimulation that will encourage continuing progress toward finding a cure for epilepsy.

Innovative Medical Research: Regenerating Muscle Tissue and Creating New Bones

Check out the current medical research at WPT regenerating muscle tissue to help those who suffer major trauma and at WSU creating "bone-like" material using a 3D printer to repair injuries.

Regenerated Muscle Tissue Could Help Those Who Suffer Major Trauma

A team of scientists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and CellThera have regenerated functional muscle tissue in mice, opening the door for a new clinical therapy to treat people who suffer major muscle trauma.

Read full story at bmes.org >>

Engineers Pioneer Use of 3D Printer To Create New Bones

It looks like bone. It feels like bone. For the most part, it acts like bone. And it came off an inkjet printer.

A 3D printer is being used to create "bone-like" material which researchers claim can be used to repair injuries. The engineers say the substance can be added to damaged natural bone where it acts as a scaffold for new cells to grow. It ultimately dissolves with "no apparent ill-effects", the team adds.

The Washington State University researchers say doctors should be able to use the process to custom-order replacement bone tissue in a few years time.

Read full story at news.wsu.edu >>

Ambulatory Practice of the Future

With CIMIT support, the “Of-the-Futures” learning-laboratory model has spread to other settings across the continuum of care. Opening its doors in July 2010, the MGH Ambulatory Practice of the Future (APF) was created with the idea of being an innovation learning lab for the MGH primary care community while simultaneously functioning as a primary care clinic for employees. The final product is an IT-rich ambulatory practice environment, which includes remote conferencing and consulting; on-site or remote scheduling and check in; and virtual visits, including remote monitoring and automatic recording of vital signs to electronic medical records.