On a top level of the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, a group of students and staff members can be found building and testing new 可以改善人类健康和福祉的产品创意.

The space is the location of the applied Medical Device Institute (aMDI), a new Grand Valley center located on the Medical Mile that is supporting Grand Rapids’ growing medical research and biomedical 将医疗器械发明推向市场.

aMDI is a first-of-its-kind center in West Michigan that provides companies and inventors with access to researchers, engineers, 企业家，医疗和商业专业人士. 它使用 integrated approach that includes intellectual property, business 审查和指导.

Brent Nowak, executive director of aMDI, 说 the center fills a 西密歇根急需的缺口.

"Grand Rapids has the ideas, the engineers to design them and the manufacturers to build them, but the area is missing a central group that focuses solely on developing and guiding those medical device ideas and inventions to the point where they are ready to be 大规模生产和销售，”诺瓦克说.

该中心已经筹备了几年. 正式开放 in 2016.

Nowak, a native of Jackson, has founded several medical device companies and spent 25 years developing intelligence systems for 全国各地的组织. 他2013年来到格兰德谷 注意到需要一个企业，可以从成熟的想法 商业可行性的概念.

从概念到现实

The institute serves a variety of clients, from individual inventors 对于大型组织来说. 它的第一批客户之一是Spectrum Health Innovations-Grand Valley team that invented the female urinary 收集设备. 该装置的设计是为了降低 女性因留置导尿管感染. 这个想法来了 from a Spectrum Health nurse and the first prototype was created by a 2014年，一群大峡谷工程专业的学生. 寻找aMDI out to take the device to the next level; it’s now going through 临床试验.

Brent Mulder, senior director of SHI, 说 working with aMDI has been 天生一对.

“我们依靠布伦特(诺瓦克)和他的团队来考虑下一步 将产品推向市场所需的步骤. 这包括创建 一个制造计划，测试新的原型和制造 穆德说.

aMDI’s lengthy client list includes Encoris, a company located in Holland that designs and manufactures medical models and surgical 为世界各地的医疗器械公司提供培训. aMDI帮助 Encoris develop the S2T外科智能训练器, a unique device that 改进了脊柱外科医生的培训方式.

Encoris' co-founder, Jim TenBrink, graduated from Grand Valley in 1997. 他说，该设备将提供更安全、更经济的服务 training for students at teaching hospitals and medical 学校s.

"The use of cadavers for surgical training is a method that has 这是19世纪的技术，”TenBrink说 说. “我们想把外科训练带到21世纪."

TenBrink说 the prototype he presented to aMDI was lacking the X-ray visuals surgeons need in order to train outside cadaver labs. The aMDI team converted four cameras into lifelike X-ray visuals, 实时可见.

“世界上没有一个教练能做到这一点。” TenBrink说. “它改变了游戏规则，节省了时间和金钱，而且 it's saving lives because they're not being subjected to radiation. I couldn't be more thrilled with the level of knowledge and expertise 学生和教师提供."

Recently, aMDI worked with Sterilogy to create a series of devices that could help reduce and eliminate hospital-associated infections. Michigan-based Sterilogy patented a compact, hand hygiene system that is worn on the hips of medical staff; aMDI is building prototypes and 测试设备.

“就像Encoris项目一样，它需要我们参与 mechanical, software and computer engineering because we're developing 非常复杂的电子设备，”诺瓦克说.

学生参与

Project teams are multidisciplinary and often include students and faculty members from engineering, biology, marketing, biomedical 科学与计算机科学.

Spencer Adamczyk, a sophomore majoring in biology and education, 为aMDI工作，负责测试原型和 进行市场调查.

“以前我对医疗器械行业了解不多 为aMDI工作，”来自牛津大学的Adamczyk说. “我明白了 so much, like new terminology and how to use manufacturing machines."

Adamczyk often works with Cody Rash, a recent alumnus who received a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences and went on to graduate 学校. 拉什是诺瓦克雇佣的第一批学生之一.

“只有我和另外一个学生，”来自纽约的拉什说 白色的湖. “看到我们能做到这么多真是太棒了 在这么短的时间内成长. 能成为其中一员是很值得的 a group that created new, well-rounded devices that will help save lives."

Nowak 说 alumni who worked at aMDI have found jobs all over the 国家. 例如，乔·基斯林(Joe Kissling)在韦伯斯特的nanorrocks工作， 德州. 该公司是美国国家航空航天局的承包商，经营一家商业公司 外层空间实验室.

Kissling, from San Antonio, will soon graduate from Grand Valley with 机械工程硕士学位. 在aMDI，他与 诺瓦克接受新的想法，并将其发展为概念的证明.

For his master's thesis, he designed a robotic skeleton to assist 宇航员在太空中的工作，并将其呈现给美国宇航局. 他说 spacesuits are extremely difficult to work in, and his design will help alleviate the stress on their bodies and make it easier to move 在太空中.

“

“这是非常令人满意的 know that your products are going to provide a 更高的生活质量还是挽救一条生命.”

布伦特·诺瓦克，amdi的执行董事

展望未来

诺瓦克说，2018年将是他的海啸. 他预测aMDI会 尺寸加倍.

In 2016, Nowak hired three graduate students, two undergraduate 学生和一名全职工程师. 2017年，aMDI雇佣了27名学生， engaged 10 faculty members in six departments, worked with 10 health 关心行业客户，并承接了12个新项目.

“你可以说，消息传得很快，”诺瓦克说. "It'll take another three-to-five years for us to become fully sustainable, but we are demonstrating our continuous growth through 每一个项目. 看到大家对aMDI的热情是令人兴奋的 西密歇根社区."

Nowak 说 he enjoys seeing students learn in the lab and have a hand 拯救生命.

“和学生们一起工作绝对是一件乐事，”他说. “他们充满活力和新想法. 这是非常令人满意的 know that your products are going to provide a higher quality of life 或者拯救一条生命."