VISE Technology Wins this Year’s Tech Venture Challenge
In 2009, Dr. Joseph Neimat, assistant professor of neurological surgery, approached VISE engineers to find out if they could create a device that provided an alternative to invasive neurological surgical procedures. Fortunately, Dr. Robert Webster of the Medical Engineering and discovery (MED) Lab and Dr. Eric Barth of the Design and Control of Energetic Systems (DCES) Lab were already working on a device that could answer Neimat’s challenge by using an MRI-compatible actuation system to manipulate steerable needles to enable minimally invasive surgical procedures. Over the course of the last six years, that device has been taken from an initial concept to a functioning system that has been developed under a mix of private, NSF and NIH funding and a number of journal publications. In the fall of 2015, recent PhD graduate David Comber and PhD Candidate Bryn Pitt wanted to find out more about what it would take to move the technology onto the market and into surgical suites, so they signed up to participate in the pilot cohort of a VISE program created to do its name for medical devices: Empower, Promote and Accelerate Commercialization and Translation (EmPACT).
The EmPACT program was conceived by Vanderbilt Mechanical Engineering alumni Byron Smith and the entrepreneurially-minded Dr. Pietro Valdastri, a mechanical engineering associate professor. In 2013, Smith and Valdastri participated in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program to learn more about the commercial potential of a technology that was developed in Valdastri’s STORM Lab. After completing the program, Smith went on to start a company and participate in the ZeroTo510 medical device accelerator program at Memphis Bioworks. Smith’s company went on to be named as a 2015 Top Tennessee company by Launch Tennessee. After completing the program, he begin talking with Valdastri and VISE leadership about creating a program that could help teach VISE affiliates about the commercialization process while educating them on how to make the most of the resources available to them as Vanderbilt researchers.
In October of 2015, VISE piloted the EmPACT Program with three teams. Over the course of the seven-week cohort, the teams set out to speak with potential customers as they sought to gain a better understanding of the value their technology can provide for the complex web of patients, clinicians and payers. During that same period, teams worked with members of the Medical Device Regulatory Affairs Program (MDRAP) and the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) to refine a regulatory strategy for getting their device through the FDA and a business model that could support their goal of improving the lives of patients. Over the course of the program, Pitt and Comber worked with the EmPACT teaching team and co-instructors like Jim Stefansic (PhD,’00, president of Faros Healthcare) and David Sheifrin (Cell and Developmental Biology PhD’12, founder of Filament Life Science Communications) to refine their understanding of the value presented by their technology and how to communicate that value to a wide range of stakeholders in the commercialization process.
In February, Pitt began sharing his technical insight and business understanding with students from the Owen Graduate School of Management and the School of Engineering as part of the Life Science Tennessee Academic Alliance business competition, the Tech Venture Challenge. The Tech Venture Challenge was designed as an educational event that allows students to learn the process of commercializing early technologies, facilitates networking between researchers and business professionals, and showcases emerging intellectual property from Vanderbilt University. Teams consisting of professional and graduate students are matched with technical and business mentors, who guided them through the nine-week challenge. A Tech Venture Challenge team comprised of Rebekah Griesenauer, Vanderbilt PhD candidate and VISE affiliate; Alice Leach, Vanderbilt PhD candidate; Martin Wiegand, Vanderbilt MBA student; Pooja Gaur, Vanderbilt PhD candidate, VISE and VUIIS affiliate, refined and expanded the business model created by Pitt and Comber. Pitt served as the team’s technical mentor, and Lauren Helton, a professional medical device sales representative, served as the team’s business mentor. On March 30, the team pitched their business plan for the MRI-Enabled, Robotic, non-Linear, Incisionless Neurosurgery, or MERLIN, system to a panel of judges. After MERLIN was announced as the winner, TVC judge Jim Stefansic commented on what put their team over the top.
“This year’s competition was strong, but Merlin was the clear winner. You could tell the team had really thought through their value proposition and regulatory and reimbursement strategies. Understanding these issues early on will give the team a major advantage as they work to bring the technology to market.” – Tech Venture Challenge Judge, Jim Stefansic.
Pitt and members of the DCES and MED Labs continue to research and develop MERLIN technology for clinical use while actively seeking partnerships for SBIR/STTR grant applications and/or investment and licensing through the CTTC. For more information, please visit my.vanderbilt.edu/dces/projects/merlin/ or email bryn.pitt@vanderbilt.edu
For more information about the EmPACT program, please contact Byron Smith at Byron.F.Smith@Vanderbilt.edu