Faculty and students will research ways to address health needs and aim to improve the design and validation of new devices.

With the help of CoMotion awards and a scholarship, ME faculty and students will research ways to address health needs and aim to improve the design and validation of new devices.

The CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund supports projects that are likely to make an impact and need gap funding to move forward. Three teams with ME faculty and researchers received spring 2023 awards:

• Advanced Multi-Organ Regeneration System (AMOR), co-led by Origincell Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dayong Gao, has developed a modular system that provides kidney, liver and lung support to individuals with multi-organ failure. The concept, verified by a clinical trial, enables patients to survive until organ function recovery or transplantation.
• Materialize, led by ME Professor Duane Storti, aims to develop a new geometric modeling kernel and state-of-the-art analysis tools that accelerate the design and validation process for new devices.
• Simpl-E-Vac, led by student Anya Prasad and ME Research Professor Eric Seibel, is developing a novel device to reduce the preparation and deployment of a therapy that is currently needed to treat gastrointestinal leaks. Simple-E-Vac could save clinician time and improve outcomes.

Grace O’Connor

In addition, ME student Grace O’Connor was named one of the 2023 CoMotion Mary Gates Innovation Scholars. The program provides entrepreneurial research opportunities with real-world impact for undergraduate students. Connor will receive a scholarship and gain full-time experience as an intern on a project, led by Seibel, that involves developing an emergency airway device. The device uses mechanical intelligence to reliably navigate the airway and seal against the trachea to provide a channel for breaths.