Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation Initiative
Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation Initiative
The Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation and Initiative (MTII) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Carl J. Shapiro Department of Orthopaedic Surgery creates an environment to foster and promote disruptive and innovative solutions for medical care, regardless of specialty field, to be translated into medical devices, clinical protocols, therapeutics, or diagnostics. Our problem-solving approach will leverage cross-disciplinary skills and technology to transcend the boundaries of traditional clinical and research fields.
The process will be fostered by nurturing collaborations between clinical and research faculty. These collaborations will identify problems, ideate solutions, perform proof-of -concept, validation, leading to formation of startups and/or collaborations with existing companies. The Initiative will leverage in house expertise and the premier biomedical academic and industry research resources of the Greater Boston area to conduct preliminary studies, simulations and design work to translate ideas into product candidates.
The Initiative is technology agnostic, applying the most appropriate technologies for the particular clinical need. It will address such needs through the broad base of available technical expertise in implantable devices, drug delivery combinations, interventional medicine, therapeutics, diagnostics and the use of nano- and bio-materials. In many of our current research projects, the solutions under development are a unique blend of traditional device technologies such as electronics, software, mechanical engineering and material science, as well as pharmaceuticals, protein chemistry and cell biology.
The Initiative will work with its faculty to identify and discuss unmet medical needs, evaluate the potential for success and the market size for those needs, solicit solutions and help form teams to start working on pilot projects. It will provide seed funding for approved projects, development support and guidance to move projects forward towards NIH, DoD, foundation, or industry funding. The Initiative will work closely with the BIDMC Technology Ventures Office to secure intellectual property for the products and will have access to regulatory expertise, through an advisory board, to provide support for IND, FDA and other regulatory processes necessary to move to the next phase of development. The Initiative will establish relations with venture capital firms in the area to move the projects from the lab to startups with seed and/or series A funding.
Research Areas in the Nazarian Laboratory
Our Researchers Outside the Laboratory
Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative
Jon Florence gives his talk titled "Using Subcutaneous Silk Scaffolds to Modulate the Interface between Skin and Percutaneous Osseointegrated Prosthesis for Traumatic Limb Amputations" at the annual Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative.
Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative
Dr. Mohamed Yousef gives his talk titled "Traumatic Injury of the Knee Extensor Mechanism in Skeletally Immature Patients: Outcome and Classification" at the annual Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative.
Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative
Dr. Sharri Mortensen presents her poster "Predicting factors of muscle necrosis in acute compartment syndrome of the lower extremity" at the annual Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma Initiative.
Dr. Ghiasi Thesis Defense
Dr. Mohammad Ghiasi defending his PhD thesis "Mechanobiological Modeling on Bone Fracture Healing." Congratulations Mohammad!
Lab Dinner in New Orleans
The Nazarian Lab and close collaborators pose at a lab dinner in New Orleans during the Orthopaedic Research Society Conference.
Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation
Dr. Nazarian, Marc Wein, and collaborators at the reception for the Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation. The team was awarded the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Fund for their project "Repairing Large Traumatic Fractures: Using Silk-Based Orthopedic Implants to Promote Healing."
2019 Summer Students
Our group of 2019 summer students after giving their end-of-summer research presentations. Good work guys!
Ara's Birthday 2018
Ara and some of the summer students pose for a picture after having cake for Ara's birthday. Nice hats.
Trip to Texas
Having fun at Mount Bonnell Covert Park in Austin part 1
Trip to Texas
Having fun at Mount Bonnell Covert Park in Austin part 2
Trip to Texas
Having fun at Mount Bonnell Covert Park in Austin part 3
Team Lunch
After a week of hard work, the Nazarian Lab enjoys barbecue lunch at local favorite and celebrity chef-run restaurant Sweet Cheeks.
Presentations
The Nazarian lab team review poster presentations at the 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society’s annual meeting.
Conferences
Researchers from the BIDMC Nazarian Lab take a moment for a group picture while attending the Orthopaedic Research Society’s annual meeting.