M2D2 AWARDS $50K FUNDING TO MEDICAL DEVICE RESEARCHERS

Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology

By Brendan Lynch, Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) reports it has given funding to four medical device ideas -- three of them based out of local hospitals.

Researchers behind the devices received about $50,000 from M2D2, including product prototyping, marketing and business planning assistance, and assistance from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Aura Medsystems Inc., a startup receiving one of the grants, will also move into M2D2’s incubator space in the Wannalancit Mill building on the UMass Lowell campus.

The following devices received funding:

  • Photochemical tissue bonding; Robert Redmond of Aura Medsystems Inc. Duxbury; led by Robert Redmond
  • Self-assembling magnetic system via endoscopic needle (SAMSEN); Padraig Cantillon-Murphy of Needham, affiliated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Handheld safety suturing device; W. Travis Lau of Medford, affiliated with Tufts Medical Center
  • I.V. oxygen using injectable microbubbles; John Kheir of Children’s Hospital Boston

With the latest round of grants, 14 startups have received funding awards and 27 total companies have been assisted by M2D2. The awards, called Fast Lane grants were established in 2007 with funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute.