Pilot grants advance engineering-medicine collaborations

Seven engineering faculty members have earned pilot grants from The Ohio State University Center for Medical and Engineering Innovation (CMEI) for interdisciplinary research projects.

The $25,000 pilot grants support collaborations between Ohio State researchers that initiate promising ventures at the medicine-engineering interface, involving at least one faculty member from the College of Engineering and one faculty member from a health sciences college.

“The funding will assist faculty in obtaining preliminary data that can lead to a collaborative grant application for the NIH, or another agency or foundation, or lead to an entrepreneurial endpoint such as a patent,” said Dr. David Eckmann, CMEI director and a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology

• Integrated Systems Engineering Professor Allen Yi and Dr. Matthew Ohr, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, are developing a miniature optical system for microendoscopic ophthalmoscopy. The core research goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel high performance, low cost microendoscope for use in potentially innovative vitreoretinal surgical techniques.
• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Associate Professor Jeremy Seidt collaborates with Dr. Gregory Wiet, professor of otolarlyngology, pediatrics and biomedical informatics, to improve surgical cochlear implant installation. The pair aims to advance image-guided programming for pre-operative optimization of surgical placement technique and electrode selection to treat hearing loss.
• Integrated Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Samantha Krening and Dr. Jaysingh Singh, in the Department of Neurology, are designing a seizure detection model that will enable real time neuro-monitoring, early identification and more efficient use of continuous electroencephalography (CEEG) for comatose patients.
• Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Jinghua Li is collaborating with Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Catherine Quatman-Yates on a wireless sweat patch for endocrine assessment during music-based rehabilitation therapy for traumatic brain injury patients. Their sensors can be used in the home setting for close monitoring and early warning of disease progression.
• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Gunjan Agarwal, College of Dentistry Biosciences Division Associate Professor Brian Foster, and Biomedical Informatics Research Assistant Professor Maciej Pietrzak will study the role of discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 1 (DDR1) in the postmenopausal bone. This work has important implications for improving bone health in the aging population.
• Biomedical Engineering Professor Daniel Gallego-Perez will work with Dr. Yousef Hannawi, Department of Neurology, to develop nanotechnology-driven solutions for cerebrovascular deficits, which are major drivers of Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias. The investigators will seek to drive vascular reprogramming of fibroblasts into induced endothelial cells as a potential therapy for cerebral blood flow deficits.
• Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering Professor Alper Yilmaz and Dr. Deepak Gulati, Department of Neurology, will develop and test a deep learning approach for automated classification of intracranial hemorrhages. They envision the system to be used clinically in emergency departments.

CMEI’s next call for pilot grant submissions will be announced next May.