Center for Biomedical Innovation

The University of Vermont's Center for Biomedical Innovation is committed to fostering entrepreneurial resilience and solving pressing problems impacting human health.

UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) is an internationally recognized hub for design, development, and testing of biomedical devices and systems with a focus on rural healthcare. 

The center supports and trains inventors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who will bring advanced biomedical technologies to the people of Vermont and the world. The CBI brings together students, faculty, and industry through shared programming and an interactive space for applied research, technology development, and education. We offer:

  • A place for biomedical companies, researchers, and students to develop new healthcare products and services, with a particular focus on devices and systems that improve health and wellness in rural communities.
  • Studio space for team brainstorming, collaboration, and customer focus groups; offices for visiting collaborators from industry
  • A prototyping shop and testing lab; and presentation rooms for showcasing new designs and venture ideas.
  • A virtual amphitheater where participating on-campus clinicians and researchers in the UVM Medical Center, the Larner College of Medicine, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and the Grossman School of Business, as well as off-site industry collaborators and clients can observe the beta testing of new devices and technologies.
  • A home for the new vertically integrated biomedical engineering design sequence, which is a cornerstone of the bachelor of science degree in Biomedical Engineering.

The Bio-design Process

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CBI design process

CBI encompasses all aspects of the bio-design process – from customer discovery, problem identification and concept ideation to prototyping and new product/business development. The CBI is housed in the state-of-the-art STEM complex in the heart of campus. The physical space fosters collaborations by bringing together students, clinicians, and industry partners across technology, healthcare and business disciplines, including those who collaborate virtually, to identify unmet needs and develop new ideas through face-to-face interactions.

Prototyping

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A prototype Early Mobility chair design

Prototyping will occur in a specialized fabrication space complementing the existing CEMS fab lab and machine shop. A mock exam room outfitted with standard clinical equipment will enable the entire bio-design process by providing clinicians a space to demonstrate an unmet need, students a place to envision prototypes, and collaborative groups a location to test real-life scenarios that simulate accessibility, mobility, and communication challenges for specific populations. Office spaces will provide visiting industry experts an on-site location for working and meeting with students and clinicians as they turn their ideas into successful products and business ventures.

Investing in relationships and Innovation

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Students collaborate on a project at the CBI

Through the bio-design paradigm, the CBI integrates product development, business creation and student education in partnership with external collaborators. Workshops, Big Problem hackathons, and design charrettes with companies occur every semester, with a focus on choosing projects to move forward either as design challenges in the formal biomedical engineering curriculum or as independent activities in the Center.

Corporate partners will have the opportunity to invest in design projects, sponsored research, and product development in a creative ecosystem populated by our students and faculty.

Some Current CBI Projects

ErMo™ Early Mobility Project

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Prototype of the CBI Early Mobility Chair (ErMo)

Affordable early mobility platform featuring Do-It-Yourself (DIY) fabrication and simple assembly using community skills and mass-market materials. The functioning, low-cost prototype ($400) features an average safety-rated car seat, hoverboard propulsion system, and custom-designed software.

Testing Achievements

  • Smoothness of control: maximum jerk tested < ceiling for public transport (0.1g) 
  • Modular support system underway for user controls – individualizing of standard design
  • DIY plans being drafted 
  • Proposal for $40K (direct) to be submitted to NNECTR on Nov 1 (LOI accepted)
  • 4-year-old (neurotypical) children will evaluate (IRB)
  • Entrepreneurship student sought to review business models for DIY products in healthcare.

Project Status

  • Modular support system underway for user controls – individualizing of standard design
  • DIY plans being drafted 
  • Proposal for $40K (direct) to be submitted to NNECTR on Nov 1 (LOI accepted)
  • 4-year-old (neurotypical) children will evaluate (IRB)
  • Entrepreneurship student sought to review business models for DIY products in healthcare.

Principal Investigators:

 

Omni-Mission Healthcare Truck

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Student in the Center for Biomedical Innovation sharing her research

With nearly 65% of its population living in rural areas, Vermont is considered the most rural state in the nation. Delivering high-quality care to these communities has always been a top priority for The University of Vermont Health Network and a new partnership with UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) aims to develop an innovative new healthcare delivery vehicle—described as the Omni-mission Health Truck—featuring swappable, mission-specific modules that can be quickly deployed to rural communities.

Project Status

  • Signed development agreement with The University of Vermont Health Network.
  • Professional builders of mobile health vehicles (~6) being reviewed.
  • Simulations of clinical procedures with standard patients for early maternal care are scheduled in the mockup at CBI.
  • Shake testing of mounting bracketry under load planned for March
  • Real-world transfer imminent.
  • Currently: mockup in the CBI ready for simulations with “standard patients

Principal Investigators

Illustration of a potential modular set-up
Illustration of an example a swappable modular set-up in the Omni-Mission Healthcare Truck.

 

Learn more about the novel technology collaboration agreement between the UVM Health Network and UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation.

New Agreement Aims to Engineer Improved Access to Rural Healthcare

Health TRAC

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Graphic showing the placement of health monitoring sensors for the Health TRAC program

The Health TRAC project addresses the need for unobtrusive home-based health- and function-monitoring for rural elders who may have mild cognitive impairment. Experimental tracking methods include wearable measurement of unstructured ADL movement, voice sound recording, contact force measurement at likely sources of postural support, and instrumentation of everyday ADL objects. 

Technology Dissemination Model 

  • The sensor and data analysis packages developed in this and follow-on studies has strong potential for commercialization through marketing of IP to existing biotech and smart-home companies or launching of UVM-based startups.

Project Status 

  • 18-month project just beginning. Data will be gathered from 20 subjects in their rural homes. Institutional review board review is being completed.

Principal Investigators

 

General Store Health-screening Technology

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Jericho Country Store in Jericho, Vermont

The concept of General Store Health-screening Technology is the placement of self-service health screening technologies in public accessible settings in rural Vermont towns – and similar sites. These would duplicate the measurement capabilities of commonplace medical technologies typically found in brick-and-mortar medical care settings, but require no on-site healthcare professionals. These kiosks and booths at town halls, libraries, public schools, and general stores (e.g.) would be linked to providers via telehealth networks. (Photo: Glenn Russell, VT Digger)

Technology Dissemination Model

  • The sensor and data analysis packages developed in this and follow-on studies has strong potential for commercialization through marketing of IP to existing biotech and smart-home companies or launching of UVM-based startups.

Project Status

  • Research and structured interviews and public surveys are being conducted to identify the most urgent needs, the most readily applicable technologies, and the reactions of community stakeholders, citizen users, and UVM Health Network leaders. 

Principal Investigators

 

Designing a Better Hospital Gown

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A student in the Center for Biomedical Innovation works on the prototype for a reengineered hospital gown

CBI researchers and students are developing a functional prototype of a new recovery robe with features that will increase the patient's comfort while ensuring ease of access for medical procedures and examinations.

Project Status: 

  • Evaluation at Clinical SimLab

Principal Investigators:

 

Our partners in design

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
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STEM Complex

The B.S. in Biomedical Engineering (BME) trains engineers to work at the intersection of engineering, the biomedical sciences, and healthcare practice. The curriculum establishes core competencies in quantitative engineering methods and biomedical sciences while providing students the freedom to take courses from across the university and apply their knowledge in an innovative four-year design sequence. In this way, UVM BME students develop deep knowledge in areas germane to their professional interests and gain experience by applying that knowledge to design innovative engineering solutions using industry-standard design practices.

The Grossman School of Business
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Grossman School of Business

The Grossman School of Business (GSB) offers courses that support the core mission of the CBI, including technology commercialization courses in which teams write commercialization plans for real technologies developed by UVM faculty; courses in social responsibility and business ethics that consider ethical public policy challenges; and marketing courses in product management, new product development, and technology development. The sustainable innovation MBA program provides three-month practicum projects to develop commercial feasibility and business plans for new businesses. GSB students can engage in CBI through internships or work-study projects to apply business expertise to research and products in CBI. GSB faculty work with the NIH-funded ITREP Program, which integrates the Larner College of Medicine and the UVM Office of Technology Commercialization to offer biomedical entrepreneurship resources.

The College of Nursing and Health Sciences
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Rowell Hall

The College of Nursing and Health Sciences supports the development of emerging technologies focused on health behaviors. Courses in behavioral attitudes and health will focus on new technology that enables remote teaching and monitoring of physical activity and fitness compliance in rural areas. CNHS faculty can facilitate the development of new devices used in physical therapy and rehabilitation in partnership with the CBI. The center will benefit from research internships connected to the College’s interprofessional health sciences Ph.D. program with rotations in engineering, medicine, and business.

The Larner College of Medicine
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Larner College of Medicine

The Larner College of Medicine supports the CBI through clinical trainees spanning the range of medical disciplines as well as graduate programs in Biomedical Engineering, Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences, and Clinical and Translational Sciences. The College provides strong supporting biomedical research courses, including microscopy, integrative genomics resources, bioinformatics, biostatistics, flow cytometry, and MRI biomedical imaging. The College’s Center for Health Services Research supports CBI through real-world quantitative health insights.

Contact

Yuri Hudak

Yuri Hudak

Director, Center for Biomedical Innovation

yuri.hudak@uvm.edu

Mechatronic Systems Design, Medical Technology Development, Biomechanics, Medical Image Analysis Algorithms, Deep Learning