University of Minnesota opens new Medical Devices Center

Parts of it may look like a basic wood shop, but a new advanced facility at the University of Minnesota is harnessing big ideas for medical devices.

It's called the Medical Devices Center.

Medical Devices Center director Art Erdman says, "I don't think there's any place across the country in an academic setting with this kind of facility."

Located on the East Bank, it is a place for engineers and medical professionals to come together and capture the ideas of graduate students often lost when they graduate and move on. Erdman says, "[Ideas] are lost all the time. I'm just totally amazed at the talent and the skill here at the university."

Here, medical device prototypes from the simple to complex, can be mocked up faster than the weeks it can take if a design has to be made off site. Sometimes prototypes can be finished in a day.

One prototype on display Tuesday, and created at the U of M, is a device that would do radial breast compression for MRI's, potentially replacing the bilateral breast compression plates that are currently used.

In addition to prototype manufacturing and providing facilities to test devices on tissue, the center also has new 3D cameras that will be used in about 40 operating rooms around campus.

These cameras will allow groups of engineering students to sit in on surgeries remotely so they can help medical experts solve problems.

Surgeons will also be able to see the students on monitors in the OR and communicate with them during surgery.

Engineering graduate student, Nathan Knutson says, "Right now you're lucky if you can get into a surgery suite as an engineer. [They] maybe allow one to two people at a time. So to be able to project those surgeries here and have the prototyping equipment to sit down and start solving the surgeon's problems with their devices and handheld manipulators? we can really come across with some great innovations and breakthroughs."

Not only will graduate students be able to advance their ideas more easily, the center has also hired a team of engineering and medical experts, well established in their fields, to brainstorm ideas.

A new fellows program will bring together four experts this fall.

Fellows program director, Marie Johnson, says "We put them in a think tank and for one year they seek out relevant clinical needs. So they actually put on scrubs and go over to the OR's, sit in the clinics, watch rehab, participate in all aspects of medical care and they ask stupid questions."

Those stupid questions could lead to the next big idea.

Erdman believes harnessing these ideas will be good for the University of Minnesota, and potentially great for the state.

He says, "Arguably, this is the center, in the United States, for medical devices, certainly in cardiology and urology, so how to we sustain that? Its very important for the economy of the state."

There are public tours of the new Medical Devices Center today, Tuesday, June 24th from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. It's located on the 5th floor of the Shepherd Labs building on the East Bank.

Click on the links above for directions and also a video about the new facility.

By Renee Tessman, KARE 11 News

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