Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate objective of this proposed program is the commercialization of a universal transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) system with a high performance implantable battery. This integrated power system will be adapt able to a host of next generation fully implantable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) systems. To date, fully implantable systems (i.e. the ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ischemic ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a contributing cause to more than half of the 300,000 sudden cardiac deaths that occur annually in the United States. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are the stand ard therapy but they are expensive the total cost of an ICD implant approaches 50,000 and the United States spends more than 2.2B on these im ...

Project Summary Embryonic stem cells offer considerable potential for cell replacement therapy where cells have been lost to injury or disease because of their capacity for continual self renewal and ability to differentiate into virtually any cell type or tissue. Currently, however the process by which human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiate into various mature functional cell types is ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sufficient general clinical knowledge, DNA sequence technology and understanding of genetic mutations for over 2,600 human genes can support beginning the integration of individual genome sequence into clinical practic e for a number of medical specialties. With the 2007 deployment of novel DNA sequence technologies that permit cost-effective interrogation of ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The great need for more efficient and effective oncologic drug development has driven the discovery and integration of biomarkers into all phases of clinical research. Further still, biomarkers are entering the clinical arena as early means of determining which patients are likely benefiting from a particular drug. One field of targeted therapy that has relied ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Biomarkers of clinical activity are critical for targeted anti-cancer therapy development and are becoming important for the care of individual patients. In a prototypical tyrosine kinase pathway, governed by the epider mal growth factor receptor (EGFR), functional activity of the pathway is assessed by the phosphorylation status of EGFR and downstream signalin ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Real-Time Image and Dose Guided Radiation Therapy System Development and integration of a real-time image- and dose-guided radiation therapy system is long overdue. Advanced Radiation Therapy has identified an opportuni ty and designed a single system that uses a common platform for imaging the target tissue in real-time, immobilizing the tissue, delivering rad ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over 700,000 surgical hernia repairs are performed each year in the United States and despite recent advances, a significant rate of recurrence persists. The incorporation of biocompatable mesh to strengthen the abdomi nal fascia has largely replaced high-tension suturing techniques in hernia repair. Currently, the preferred biomaterials include durable synthe ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts are used to treat pediatric and neonatal hydrocephalus in severe cases, representing approximately 1/3rd of affected infants. Due to the high susceptibility for infection and mechanica l breakdown, the failure rate of VP shunts is around 30-40%. A need therefore exists to improve infection prevention for this procedure, likely ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Centers for Disease Control estimates that as many as 2 million people contract infections in hospitals each year, with as many as 100,000 deaths. Approximately 1/4 of hospital related infections (~500,000) are surg ical site infections. For each single patient, surgical site infections have been reported to require a median 6.5 additional days of hospital ...