Earning a master’s degree is not enough for bioengineering students in the new bioInnovate program at the U. They also develop medical devices with real commercial potential, and they learn how to get FDA approval and start selling it.
“The program provided me with the tools to identify an unmet clinical need, validate this need through clinical immersion, and develop design controls as a medical device road map,” says Zac Peeler, a graduate of the program.
Peeler was on a team of students that developed medical doctor John Langell’s concept for a low-cost laparoscope. “It consolidates $500,000 of existing medical equipment into a handheld device to enable global access to the benefits of laparoscopic surgery,” Peeler says.
Other team members are Garrett Coman, Nickolas Blickenstaff and Sourav Kole. They call themselves MedInno and haven’t slowed down since graduating from the bioInnovate program in spring 2012. They have competed in competitions across the country, won thousands of dollars in grants and are pitching their product to investors.
