Six Teams Awarded Grants in Inaugural MEDx Pilot Project Funding Program

Six teams from Pratt School of Engineering and the School of Medicine have been awarded grants in an inaugural MEDx funding opportunity designed to stimulate new collaborations, or support a new effort in an existing collaboration, between faculty from the two schools.

To be considered, a proposal was required to have a principal investigator from Pratt and the School of Medicine to lead a program of research in the area of “Diagnostics and Devices.” In addition to significant input from each school, each proposal had to identify a plan for obtaining external funding upon completion of the pilot phase.

MEDx received 29 outstanding applications to the Request for Proposals from a diverse array of departments in Medicine and Engineering. The six teams selected will each receive $50,000 in support.

The grantees for “Devices and Diagnostics” are:

  • Rapid, non-invasive, point-of-care cancer diagnostic tool – Brant Inman (Surgery) and Jeff Glass (ECE)
  • A novel catheter design for treatment of hydrocephaly – Nandan Lad (Neurological Surgery) & Ken Gall (MEMS)
  • A microphysiologic system to test the tumorigenic behaviors and drug responses of skeletal muscle tumors – Corinne Linardic (Pediatrics and Pharmacology & Cancer Biology) and Nenad Bursac (BME)
  • The mechanics and biology of improved tendon to bone healing – Shalini Ramasunder and Samuel Adams (Orthopaedic Surgery) and Jennifer West (BME/MEMS)
  • Synergy between HIFU and immunotherapeutic intervention for destruction of tumor cells – Kim Lyerly (Surgery) and Pei Zhong (MEMS)
  • Development of a miniaturized apheresis device for research and pediatric use – Gow Arepally (Medicine) and Neal Simmons and Hadley Cox (MEMS)

Some of the awarded proposals will be introduced at the MEDx kick-off event on April 27, 2016.  

In addition to MEDx, this award was supported by: L. Ebony Boulware, MD, Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Award; Suresh Balu, MBA, Director of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation; Mary Klotman, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine; Allan Kirk, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Surgery; John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA, Chair of the Department of  Neurosurgery; Ben Alman, MD, Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery; and Ken Gall, PhD, Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.