Translating research to real-world innovations

45%

Faculty members with a start-up

27%

Faculty members conduct clinical trials

77%

Faculty with industry contracts

Through start-up companies, clinical trials, and industry collaborations, research from Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) faculty is improving and saving people’s lives.

Areas of expertise

Cardiovascular diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases
Cancer
Immunoengineering

Areas of expanded work

Computational modeling
Augmented virtual simulations for medicine, digital health, and data science
Big data

45%

Faculty members with a start-up

Forming start-ups

A slew of start-up companies have been formed based on our faculty's technology, bringing meaningful change to healthcare.

Patient wearing a headset and holding a device that inserts into their mouth

A medical device for tinnitus

Neuromod Devices

In the largest clinical trial of its kind, the start-up's device significantly reduced tinnitus and sustained therapeutic results for a year.

Hubert Lim

Lab-created heart valves

Vascudyne, Inc.

Vascudyne's heart valves grow with the recipient, which — if confirmed in humans — could prevent the need for repeated surgeries in kids with congenital heart defects.

Robert Tranquillo

Function after paralysis

StimSherpa

With StimSherpa’s neuromodulation platform, clinicians can customize spinal cord stimulation for each individual patient. This helps patients regain control over volitional movement and bodily functions.

Tay Netoff

BME PhD student helps design device and create start-up

It’s the best of both worlds. I’m doing lab work, publishing papers, and answering important biological questions, plus I’m getting hands-on experience creating a medical device start-up.

Claire Kaiser

Kaiser, Prof. Hubert Lim, and team co-created SecondWave Systems, a company that aims to develop and commercialize a wearable arthritis device.

More BME start-ups

Aperios Technologies
Zhi Yang

Fasikl
Zhi Yang

SecondWave
Hubert Lim

Sollievo Pharmaceuticals
Ronald Siegel

VitriStor
John Bischof

Vigilant Diagnostics
John Bischof

Dr. Alex Herman (left) and Dr. David Darrow stimulate and record brain activity to improve April Reasor's pain.

Neurostimulation helps relieve patient’s pain

A Minnesota woman no longer suffers from chronic pain, thanks to a neurostimulation approach that’s based on research from our department and the UMN Medical School.

Pain was treated via cortical brain stimulation, with outstanding results: Her self-assessed pain dropped from eight (out of ten) to zero.

Tay Netoff

27%

Faculty members conduct clinical trials

Conducting clinical trials

Our location is uniquely well-suited for clinical trials. We're situated in a major urban area next to the University of Minnesota Medical School, other health science units, and a hospital, and in the heart of a world-leading health technology innovation cluster.

Accelerating new therapies

Researchers are pioneering a biophysics-based simulator that can predict tumor progression.

By providing a multiscale computational platform, the simulator will accelerate the development of new therapies.

David Odde

77%

Faculty with industry contracts

Collaborating with industry

With more than 500,000 people employed in the local health technology sector, the opportunities for collaboration are endless. Many of our faculty team up with local industry contacts to translate their research into products that make people's lives better.

Industrial Advisory Board (IAB)

Our department's work is guided by input from biomedical engineering leaders at local companies. The board aims to:

Connect students and faculty with industry stakeholders.
Accelerate innovation in health care.
Create an environment of collaboration and innovation.

Groundbreaking auditory nerve implant attracts industry investment

Blackrock Neurotech announced plans to invest in a novel auditory nerve implant (ANI) device that restores hearing for the deaf. The ANI device technology is being developed as part of an NIH-supported effort in which BME Professor Hubert Lim serves as lead researcher.

Hubert Lim

Neuroengineering reserachers standing around a screen and a device

Researching together

Our neuroengineering researchers collaborate extensively with local medtech companies. Endeavors range from conducting basic and translational research projects funded by the companies to holding consulting positions.

Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty and students have been a crucial asset for my team. By working together, we can reduce the risk of developing new technologies.

Mark Hjelle, Director of Technology Platform Development, Heraeus Medical Components

Course: Translating and commercializing neurotechnology

A free, comprehensive course is easing the journey from lab success to patient benefit. Through online lectures and hands-on training, the course shows how entrepreneurs and academics can translate and commercialize neurotechnology.

Matt Johnson

Students presenting senior projects at a poster session

Training trailblazers

Our undergraduate program prepares students for careers in the medtech industry.

Students pick one of nine emphasis areas—such as digital health, medical device design, cell and tissue engineering, or neural engineering—and couple classroom experiences with robust co-op and internship opportunities.