Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation Initiative

Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation Initiative


Nazarian lab members presenting orthopedic postersThe 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.

Follow Us and Stay Up to Date