(Clockwise from top: T3, Surgical Sam, non-electric baby warmer, vessel-based drug delivery)
Next week – on April 15 – Boston-area visitors can sample inventions and technologies from around Boston Children’s Hospital, some in development and some already in use. More than 20 medical innovations will be on display in an interactive “science fair” format. We’ll be demonstrating a variety of medical devices, mobile applications, software IT innovations, wearables and bioengineering innovations. It’s free and open to the public.
The event is hosted by Boston Children’s Innovation Acceleration Program and Technology & Innovation Development Office, from 2 to 4 p.m., followed by networking time (4 to 5 p.m.).
Exhibits, demos and mingling will take place in the Patient Entertainment Center off the main hospital lobby (300 Longwood Avenue, Boston). Interviews with hospital innovators will be broadcast out of our new Seacrest Studio to the rooms of patients and families unable to come down. The innovations will include many we’ve profiled on Vector, plus many new ones:
- T3: Raising an early warning in the ICU: A Web-based, portable early warning system for intensive care units fights information overload by streamlining and managing data from as many as 10 or more bedside monitors at once. It tracks trends on the fly, displaying data in a way that’s quickly grasped.
- Thermia and iThemonitor: When should I worry about a fever? Should I see a doctor? This new app,coupled with a smart, wearable thermometer, provides parents with education about fever, illness and fever management.
- Non-electric warmer for newborns: A low-cost, low-tech warming pad gives off heat for hours after it’s immersed in hot water – a great solution to prevent infant hypothermia in resource-poor settings.
- SIMPeds: High-fidelity medical simulation technologies continue to expand. They include Surgical Sam, a beating-heart mannequin; Huggable, a social robot made to look like a teddy bear; and 3D printed models of body parts used to rehearse complex surgery.
- Seizure tracking and warning systems: Wearables and other portable devices can continuously monitor seizure activity, helping families and physicians understand a child’s seizure patterns and respond quickly to emergencies.
- RNSafe: A bedside video consultation system using smartphones or tablets lets dedicated nurses safely verify medications and doses without having to come to the room. In beta testing.
- Oculus Rift, LEAP and Myo Band: Boston Children’s is testing 3D simulation glasses and two systems for manipulating computers through gestures, borrowed from the gaming industry, and mulling how they could be used in pediatric medicine. Viewers can offer their ideas.
- Silk grafts for organ reconstruction: Silk provides an ideal 3D biomaterial for repairing hollow organs such as the bladder. It avoids the complicated process of using cells, yet encourages the body’s own cells to grow in naturally.
- Drug delivery via patients’ own blood vessels: Combining tissue engineering with gene therapy, bioengineered networks of vessels could produce and deliver drugs directly into a patient’s body.
The event is open to the public, but media must register to attend. Please contact keri.stedman@childrens.harvard.edu or 617-919-3110 to have your name added to the press list.
