Researchers developing technologies that could lead to new gene and cell therapies, and that will help nurses and physical therapists do their jobs more effectively will receive a total of $600,000 in funding through the eighth round of the University City Science Center’s QED Proof-of-Concept Program. The center is based in Philadelphia.
The program, started in 2009, funds novel university technologies with market potential, bridging the gap between academic research and product commercialization. The awardees were selected from a pool of 62 applicants and 12 universities in the Greater Philadelphia region.
The Round 8 awardees include – Amy Cowperthwait of the University of Delaware, who is revolutionizing healthcare training by addressing short comings of mannequin simulation.
Cowperthwait, a nurse, has teamed up with lead engineer Amy Bucha to develop a new tool for teaching health care workers techniques for airway management in emergency situations, improving patient safety and providing feedback from the patient’s perspective.
“The QED program excels at finding innovative, commercially relevant solutions for pressing problems in healthcare and life sciences,” notes Science Center CEO Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA. “Our latest round looked for innovative approaches to collaboration as it emphasized partnerships between two groups that don’t typically work together: medical professionals and engineers. Putting together these groups’ different skill sets and perspectives, as exemplified by Amy Cowperthwait’s and Judith Deutsch’s projects, creates another path to improving patient care. You can expect to see more of these special emphasis areas in the future.”
QED has received support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, William Penn Foundation, and Wexford Science and Technology, a BioMed Realty Company.
