CTSI hosts Pediatric Device Collaborative for industry and faculty researchers; offers Pediatric Device Collaboration funding

CTSI, the Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (PDIC), and its academic partner, Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (PPDC), hosted more than 70 industry and faculty researchers at an inaugural Pediatric Device Breakthrough Collaborative event earlier this month.

Berlin Heart, Inc., President and CEO Bob Kroslowitz spoke to a standing room only crowd at the April 12 event.
Berlin Heart, Inc., President and CEO Bob Kroslowitz spoke to a standing room only crowd at the April 12 event. 

The event was held in conjunction with the Design of Medical Devices Conference, and featured participants from Medical Alley Association, St. Jude Medical, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Smiths Medical, Children’s Hospitals of Philadelphia, Texas A&M University, University of Minnesota, including the Duluth campus, the FDA, and Small Business Innovation Research, in addition to other device manufacturers and consulting companies from six states. 

The event, which included lightning talk partnering opportunities, served to bring industry and University researchers together to find collaborative partnerships to ultimately develop or move technologies forward that solve current pediatric medical needs. 

Open funding opportunity

CTSI’s Office of Discovery and Translation, which supports researchers in the early stages of translational research, announced that it would provide up to $15,000 in seed funding and operational support from PDIC to three cross-disciplinary projects to kickstart collaborative pediatric device development efforts. Though the funding opportunity is an open program with no deadline, it is only eligible to teams that include a University of Minnesota faculty member. 

For more information and to apply, contact Jodi Fenlon Rebuffoni at [email protected] or 612-626-6945.

Going forward, CTSI and PDIC plan to host this event annually in conjunction with the Design of Medical Devices Conference.