Scientific innovation and research is constantly making impact in the medical community, and the University of Toledo is contributing to the story.

The University of Toledo will host a biannual conference this week to review projects conducted through the National Science Foundation’s center on our campus. The conference will be held Thursday, Mar. 24 and Friday, Mar 25 at the Engineering Campus starting at 7:30 a.m. both days and end at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and 1 p.m. on Friday. It will include presentations from students, faculty and staff about their research as well as keynote speakers.

The Center for Disruptive Musculoskeletal Innovations (CDMI) was founded by Drs. Jeffrey Lotz, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and Vijay Goel, University of Toledo (UT) July, 2014 through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) program. This center is one of only four I/UCRC’s in the area of health and safety. It joins industry members and faculty from the University of Toledo and UCSF to define and fund industry-inspired, precompetitive research projects and other collaborative initiatives. The CDMI maintains itself as a primary source for fundamental research on clinical outcomes and cost data, implant materials, tissue engineering, biosensors, implant testing protocols, and novel imaging in the musculoskeletal domain.

“To have an NSF Center is very prestigious,” said Dr. Vijay Goel, CDMI co-director and bioengineering and orthopaedic surgery professor. “To see that the faculty are working side-by-side with industry to translate research discoveries is exciting, and allows us to accelerate our efforts to create value for society.”

Last September at the Bi-Annual meeting held in San Francisco, faculty members proposed student, faculty and fellows projects to the CDMI Industry Advisory Board (IAB). The IAB then evaluated, ranked, and voted to fund 15 projects this year, said Lotz, Director and Vice Chair Research.

One of the exciting aspects of the bi-annual CDMI meeting that will occur at UT, in March, is that the students will be presenting the CDMI project updates to the IAB. The IAB currently consists of high-level executives in 8 businesses or organizations in the medical field. This will be a unique training experience for many of our students since they will be able to meet and interact with many of the industry executives and get immediate feedback on their projects, Goel said. Some of the IAB members will be from companies like Depuy Spine, Orthofix, Eli Lilly and Company, K2M, Zimmer, Osteonovus, Spinal Balance, and Medipol University, Turkey.

Rodney Summers, a first year Bioengineering Master’s student, is one of the presenters slated for the workshop. Summers’ research focus, under supervision from Dr. Ed Nyman, Dr. Anil Gupta, et al., has been on the development of a “worst case” device performance tool that will be used by regulatory reviewers and orthopaedic industry innovators to assess the efficacy of devices prior to product launch with the hope that the devices designed utilizing this tool will help to further improve the quality of life for the patients who receive these implants.

The best part about being involved in the conference, according to Rodney, is that the industry executives are receiving their resumes and seeing firsthand all the work the students have been doing.

“We’re working hand-in-hand with the industry and getting face time with the industry [members],” he said. “They’re going to get to see what we’re producing out of this lab and hopefully it’ll turn into a job.”

Jacob, an undergraduate student working on growth rod design project; agreed: “It is a great opportunity to be presenting at the [CDMI conference]. I feel honored to be able to present to so many people, and to be able to learn from [others’] projects as well. I hope to be able to meet and thank some of the individuals who have helped us with our project along the way, and to have the opportunity to gain [the] skill and comfort [to present] at a forum like this one.”

For more information, visit the CDMI website at www.nsfcdmi.org

Adapted from story by Lindsay Mahaney