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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
courant.com (November 23, 2011) — Earlier this month, the students — all three of them now juniors, age 20 — won the Collegiate Inventors Competition in Washington, D.C. That added $12,500 in prize money to the $100,000 they won in the 2011 CIMIT Primary Healthcare Prize competition.
CNBC.com (November 22, 2011) — The house call is back...with a high-tech spin.
In a bid to accommodate the aging population and the increasingly hectic lifestyles of their patients, physicians are embracing a broad spectrum of Web-based software solutions that are bringing healthcare services into the home.
From real time videoconferencing to secure online chats, telehealth is not only changing the way care gets delivered, but helping to improve medical outcomes by making care more accessible to patients who lack easy access, according to Ronald Dixon, a practicing general internist and director of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, CIMIT, in Boston.
Dixon says all ten doctors in his practice are currently testing the software as part of the Virtual Practice Pilot program at Massachusetts General Hospital, which is studying the effectiveness of live office visits versus videoconferencing patient encounters.
Do you have an innovative idea to help make the lives of people with epilepsy easier? Throw it to the sharks!
The Epilepsy Therapy Project, known as the parent organization of epilepsy.com and as funders of select epilepsy research, is inviting proposals -- from people with epilepsy, families, friends, entrepreneurs, students -- for a grant to develop a novel "concept" that will help people with epilepsy. The winner of the 2012 Shark Tank competition will receive national recognition and a cash award supporting the development and commercialization of an important new product, technology or therapeutic concept.
Application due December 15, 2011. Your idea could net you $50,000 to accelerate its development!
A non-profit consortium of Boston's leading teaching hospitals and universities, CIMIT fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in translational research, medicine, science and engineering, in concert with industry, foundations and government, to rapidly improve patient care through the discovery, development and implementation of innovative medical devices, procedures and clinical technology system applications.
