Johns Hopkins University Places First In Annual ASME Innovation Showcase

[okarol]

Johns Hopkins University Places First In Annual ASME Innovation Showcase

(Media-Newswire.com) - NEW YORK, June 21, 2011 – A student team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., won top honors in the 2011 ASME Innovation Showcase ( ASME IShow ) for a medical device that provides reliable vascular access in dialysis treatments.

Rice University and the University of Michigan received second and third-place prizes, respectively, in the engineering competition held June 11 at the 2011 ASME Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. Ten collegiate teams participated in ASME IShow, which bases awards on technical ingenuity, quality of business plans, potential for success in the commercial marketplace, and other criteria.

Johns Hopkins’ Hemova Port is a fully implantable device that connects directly to veins in patients undergoing kidney dialysis.  The Hemova is seen by the six-person engineering design team at Johns Hopkins as an innovative replacement for catheters and other current blood-access devices that have demonstrated high rates of failure leading to infection and thrombosis.

“The Hemova significantly reduces infection risk by having a completely subcutaneous port using the skin as a natural barrier,” say the researchers in a product plan submitted to judges at ASME I-Show.  Designed in collaboration with engineers and clinicians at Johns Hopkins, the Hemova is fabricated from titanium and silicone and features a pressure-activated valve mechanism. For their research and design, the team received the first place prize of $10,000 in award funding from ASME.

Rice University received the second-place award of $7,000 for a device called NeoSyP, a novel mechanical syringe pump targeted at neonatal care in the developing world. NeoSyP ( Neonatal Syringe Pump ) is a gravity-driven pump that uses an oscillating pendulum to deliver accurate medicinal and nutritional fluids to premature and low birthweight neonates without the need of electricity or elaborate set-up.   

The University of Michigan won the third-place award of $5,000 for a device called DIIME ( Design Innovations for Infants and Mothers Everywhere ), a low-cost medical apparatus designed to provide emergency blood transfusions for woman faced with ruptured ectopic pregnancies, the largest contributor to first-trimester maternal mortality in underdeveloped nations.

Now in its fifth year, the ASME IShow offers participating student teams a platform to develop and showcase their engineering and business skills as they provide solutions to quality of life issues. 



About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world.

http://media-newswire.com/release_1153254.html

[greg10]

This is a very interesting device that resembles a graft with built in valves, all implantable.  Hopefully this will increase the patency of grafts and make difficult cannulation a thing of the past.  Animal trials in 2011, clinical trials 2012-2014, earliest FDA approval may be in 2015.