Motus Nova Products

Testimonials

“I was introduced to the Hand Mentor… and the immediate benefits were that I could see some progress being made on the first day, which was incredible because I had virtually no movement in the arm or the hand. And you know just moving it a sixteenth of an inch here or there made a heck of a difference. I would say that comparing it other things I did in the clinic, it was more fun… so it took a lot of monotony out of what we would do every day, and that was the whole key for me.”

-Steve S.
Stroke Survivor

“[The Motus Hand Mentor and Foot Mentor] represent some of the best and brightest ideas that have been developed … [and] are currently being scaled for national implementation, so that Veterans across the country have access to the innovative and effective care they deserve.”

-Dr. David Shulkin MD
Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, “Best Care Everywhere” 2017, va.gov

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It’s that time of the year again, as the semester winds to a close, Phase I registration ends, and you frantically try to calculate the lowest grade you can get on your final to cinch that A on your transcript. At a school like Georgia Tech, it’s easy to feel you’re punching above your weight. Classes are tough, and only get tougher, and everyone around you is scrambling for that internship or lab position. However, for a population of students used to being at the top of the class and the ones asked for help, it can be hard to be the one asking for advice instead.

But at Georgia Tech’s BME Academic Advising Department, advisors Dr. Kim Paige and Paul Fincannon want to emphasize that academic advising isn’t just for those struggling in coursework, but for all students. As Dr. Paige states, “academic advising should not be a one-time hit or miss type of service that students use throughout their academic years in college; it should be a tool and resource that students value, understand, and engage in to help with future goals.”

Whether it’s your first or your fiftieth time in the Academic Advising office, it can seem daunting to meet with the advisors. Often, there seems to be a stigma associated with academic advising that one only gets help when they struggle with courses or need to withdraw from a course. To many students, they have never felt the need to ask for help in their schedules or in their lives, academic or otherwise, and may be more reluctant to seek help. However, Mr. Fincannon emphasizes that students should not shy away from counsel. “Usually when we get somebody come in here who probably needs this, usually they’ll come back, because they realise it’s not a scary thing,” Mr. Fincannon said. The guidance provided isn’t just for those struggling in class, or for those worried about their academic careers; it’s for anyone who just wants someone to talk to.

To Dr. Paige, academic advising is critical for providing direction not just for academic and professional goals, but for personal ones as well, and Mr Fincannon concurs; as he states, “we’d like for them to think that we are always here for them for anything.” In the BME department, academic advisors are there for a reason; when you walk into their offices, you get the sense that they are truly invested in their students’ college careers. As Dr. Paige states, “I grew to love academic advising because I get to build relationships with students and see how students grow and develop throughout [their] college experiences.”

Academic advising is clearly important for students to take advantage of; however, it isn’t something that can be benefited from fully in a single session. Many carry the idea that academic advising is more of a one-time deal; a session or two to sort out scheduling problems, or difficulties in classes. However, Dr. Paige believes that in such a short time frame, it’s difficult for the source of a student’s issues to be parsed out, that “these developmental moments can often seem detoured or like our work is patch-work.” Oftentimes, she states that “the most challenging aspect of my job is time… I often wish I and the advising team had more time to focus and do more developmental advising – really dig into advising issues that our students experience.” Instead, she believes that getting counsel from their advisors is a process, even for academic advising veterans. Rather than just something to be ticked off of a checklist, Dr. Paige wants academic advising to be seen more as a “two-way communication that should be multifaceted and ongoing while the student is in an academic-college environment.”

For many, academic advising can seem like an afterthought, something you know you should go to, but you never seem to get there. But Dr. Paige and Mr. Fincannon believe that advising is something that everyone needs to make the best of your next four (or five) years here. Next time you have a free hour in your schedule, maybe stop by the BME academic advising offices. You won’t regret it.

Capstone or Senior Design is the final project class to mark the end of your time as an engineering student. It’s the project that will likely be brought up in interviews and resumes. We’ve all heard about Capstone and how much work it might entail, but what does it actually mean to be in it? Seniors Rachel Mann, Madeline Smerchansky, Bailey Klee, and Nicholas Quan are part of a Capstone team and share some insight about their journey.

Capstone is most similar to BMED 2310; however, Capstone emphasizes working with the client more. “BMED 2310 prepares you for almost every aspect of capstone, but on a smaller scale,” Quan explained. Furthermore, the class dedicates a month of researching the chosen topic or complete user interviews. Then, about two weeks are allotted for brainstorming ideas and seeing if they would work legally. The last month is dedicated to refining the team’s prototype until Capstone Expo, where all teams display their finished products.

The team explains that their device will automate the process of reconnecting the bladder and urethra after a prostatectomy, or the removal of the prostate. There is no other device on the market that does this. Currently, the reconnection is hand sewn which is where most complication occurs after surgery. “Our device, which we named SecURO, will benefit the urologic surgeon completing the reconnection by making the process shorter and easier and it will benefit the patient by reducing complications associated with a poorly completed reconnection,” Mann said.

Teamwork is highly important in Capstone. Teams will face many challenges. “Senior design requires a lot of time outside of class. It’s manageable, but only when all members are honest about the amount of time that they can dedicate to the project. We confronted our issues as soon as they arose to avoid further frustration.” Smerchansky said. The team spent about 20 hours outside of class in the beginning of the semester, but now spends up to 60 as they get closer to Expo.  Because of the the extensive time the team spends with each other, it is advised that students choose their teammates wisely. “We had all previously worked together at some point during our time at GT. It is definitely helpful to enjoy spending time with the people on your team.” Mann said.

Furthermore, students need to wary that a lot of time is spent on user interviews and is advised that at least one team member can offer transportation if needed. A skill students will likely gain is knowing how to efficiently articulate their ideas to professionals and/or users.  “Professor Rains, Professor Stubbs, and your sponsor have connections to a lot of hospitals and offices in the Atlanta area and can help with initial contact, but it is up to you to continue those conversations to set up meetings. Many teams will start by emailing people. It can be disheartening when you don’t receive many responses, but know that most teams in senior design are in the same boat when it comes to contacting doctors.”  Smerchansky said.

A unique aspect about the SecURO team is that they have the opportunity to work with the Mayo Clinic. “The chance to work with a prestigious hospital and outstanding surgeons is an amazing opportunity that adds a lot of value to our professional careers. The Mayo Clinic project is designed for students with a drive for the startup culture,” Quan said. This has been especially beneficial for Klee and Mann who plan on going to medical school afterwards. “ Since we are representing a highly respected sponsor, Mayo Clinic, we hope to live up to expectations and impress everyone we speak to [during expo].” Klee stated.

Smerchansky highlights how important the Capstone experience is to industry as well as its potential to kickstart a career.

When planning your course load towards becoming a healthcare professional, your first thought might not be the Scheller College of Business. However, Professor Bill Todd is trying to change that. Though the United States healthcare industry is the largest in the world, totaling a massive 20 percent of the US economy, it ranks only 37th in terms of quality. Thus, over the past six years, Professor Todd aims to combat this trend through his Management in the Healthcare Sector course (MGT 3662). By crafting an interdisciplinary course spanning topics covering the United States’ healthcare industry, he hopes to help Georgia Tech students find unconventional paths into the healthcare industry so they can play a part in the solving the problems it faces.

With coursework ranging from analyzing public health trends across populations, to medical device engineering, to the ethics of palliative and end of life care, students are educated on the multitude of issues the healthcare industry faces today. As Professor Todd says, “the industry has a myriad of problems, but that’s okay, because that creates opportunities for smart Georgia Tech people to come into the industry and become a part of the solution.” Professor Todd “want[sic] students to have some insight into how to get into [the healthcare industry] … and it’s proven to be very popular and successful.”

Rather than the group work and projects common in the BME curriculum, Management in the Healthcare Sector emphasizes collaboration and discussion with other majors. From BME and pre-med to Public Policy and Business, students interact with others through debate and discussion, working together to devise solutions to the various cases presented in class. To Professor Todd, it isn’t the memorization of the coursework to the smallest detail that is important; rather, the goal is to make connections between what you already know, to learn how to work across disciplinary lines, and to communicate with others who may not share your perspective.

While other Biomedical Engineering courses may focus more on the engineering sides of the healthcare industry, Healthcare Management approaches the industry from a different angle. However, this is not a burden for BME students; rather, it’s to their benefit. Professor Todd believes that without such outside experiences, “people get frozen into their specialty area, and that’s when bad things happen.” Through the intentional integration of students from across vastly different fields of study, different viewpoints become the norm. Students are forced outside of their comfort zone, to view issues not just through the lens of engineering, but through business, management, ethics and more, allowing for greater insight into the healthcare industry and its issues.

Through the course, students gain the skills and knowledge regarding the healthcare industry they otherwise might never have gotten; prominent members of the health industry in and around Atlanta are frequently brought into classes to speak to students about their experiences, from Grady’s head of surgery, to the former head of the CDC. Professor Todd recounts, “one of my very best BME students… called me and said ‘I’ve been accepted into Emory, and the interview was what I think tipped me over… and every single answer that I gave was content from your course.’” A different former student had never heard of epidemiology before Healthcare Management; she’s now the State Epidemiologist for Zika control in Georgia.

The healthcare industry isn’t just about the physicians and the nurses on the front lines; it’s also about the engineers, the managers, the epidemiologists, and the scientists in the background too. Through Management in the Healthcare Sector, BME students have the opportunity to see past the immediate healthcare provides to gain insight into the many routes into the healthcare industry they may not know.

In 2006, a few hundred years after origami delighted courtiers of the Edo period, a derivative art form took centerfold in Nature magazine: DNA origami. Like paper origami, folded painstakingly from single leaves of paper, DNA origami are continuous assemblages, folded from a lone, long single-stranded scaffold, about seven thousand kilobases in length. Origami architects design scaffolds that fold into a diverse topiary of target shapes, guided by complementary interactions with short, synthesized staple strands. This nanoscale origami has myriad applications, including drug delivery and DNA computing. Assembly of target shapes is straightforward, and reads like a recipe for roux: combine scaffold strands and staple strands over a low simmer.

In 2018, the contemporary epicenters of DNA folding are far removed from Japan. The Wyss Institute in Cambridge, MA is perhaps the most famous, and one of its notable alumni, Dr. Yonggang Ke, is now an assistant professor in the employ of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. In recent years, Dr. Ke has been steering his own nanoengineering lab towards novel DNA folding techniques and applications. Ke is perhaps best known for his work on DNA brick, which bear structural likeness to LEGO brick, and captured the imagination of the world in 2012. A DNA brick comprises very short strands of DNA, only 32 nucleotides long. Thousands of these bricks can undergo self-assembly into a target 3D structure. They have two advantages over DNA origami: bricks can bind together independently and are chemically synthesized in their entirety.

Nanoarchitecture is in its first blush, its youth evident in the design choices of Ke and collaborators, which tend often towards the whimsical: teddy bears feature in his oeuvre, as do low-resolution maps of the Americas. However, a very curious feature of this molecular masonry is that its structures are assembled not in positive, but in negative space. It is not a teddy bear Ke produced, but the impression of a teddy bear, a cavity charmingly wrought into a solid cube of bricks.

Elsewhere in the Ke lab, synthetic RNAs are directing assembly of viral protein onto DNA nanostructures. These counterfeits of native RNAs serve as ‘origin-of-assembly,’ or docking, sites for viruses in vivo. These sites, which initiate protein subunit assembly, are distributed like toeholds along the pre-assembled DNA nanostructure. From each toehold, the RNA scaffold spirals upward like long, sticky lichen, and the protein subunits assemble into rank along the scaffold, resulting in blooms of viral capsids adhered to the DNA nanostructure. These capsids, the polyhedral shells that normally envelop viral genomes, are perfectly folded, and perfectly hollow, suggestively devoid of genetic material. Could this make capsids cultivated on DNA nanostructures a prime vector for delivering drugs into human cells? Drug delivery is an application Dr. Ke has explored in a recent paper which investigated the uptake of DNA nanostructures into cells. The nanostructures can cross the cell membrane, but once in, they lack the clearance from the cell to be disseminated into the cytosol proper. The foray into clinical application is unusual for the lab, which, being highly experimental, aims to show that certain novel techniques can work, in order that other groups can put them to the clinical yoke.

The sterile hollowness of the capsid provokes another question, especially in light of the quest to create a synthetic genome: could DNA nanostructures have the potential for self-replication? To imbue a synthetic structure with the basic tenet of life – it is what Gepetto wished for Pinocchio. Dr. Ke allows that no architected DNA nanostructures are known to replicate themselves. Yet for the sake of example, he explains how a sort of self-replication could in theory be achieved. He conjures up two imaginary structures, A and B. Imagine that structure A is a kind of selfish enzyme; with zealot’s fervor, it catalyzes the conversion of structure B into structure A, until B is completely spent. The once-heterogeneous population of As and Bs is left blandly homogeneous. Strictly speaking, this doesn’t constitute true replication. A cannot assemble itself from simple molecules in its environment. Its essence must come prepackaged in structure B. And the origins of structure B, unlike the origins of a gamete, lie outside of structure A.

For now, replicating nanostructures remain a fixture of theory. They lie at the horizon of the field, an Icarian undertaking for its most daring. And yet, this rudimentary yet beautiful vision of self-replication reflects a larger renaissance in DNA nanoengineering that is afoot. Each of its luminaries appears intent upon transforming nature’s blueprint into an architectural frontispiece.

Similar to many incoming freshmen, Jackson Hair did not know what he wanted to do once he graduated from Georgia Tech. As a graduate of the Class of 2015, as well as a current PhD student at Tech, Jackson recalls the many twists and turns his path took during his undergraduate years to lead him to where he is now. As a PhD student working in a lab at Emory University Hospital within the Georgia Tech-Emory University Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, Jackson Hair currently conducts research in computational fluid dynamics, where he is working on developing a new diagnostic protocol for coronary artery disease.

Hair came to Tech in the Fall of 2011 as a Biomedical Engineering major, during which he took his first Computer Science course, CS 1371. The course, required for all engineering majors, has a reputation for being one of the harder computer science courses at Georgia Tech, but Hair actually liked it. He mentioned, “I enjoyed the coding a lot, and I knew I wanted to do something else with coding.” This passion for coding pushed him to pursue a CS minor to supplement his BME degree.

Throughout his time with The Pioneer, Hair held numerous positions, ranging from staff editor his freshman year to editor-in-chief his senior year. In regards to his experience at The Pioneer, Hair says,

Even after discovering his love for computer science, Hair’s career path was still clouded with uncertainty. He wanted a job, but was more interested in science and math rather than the business side in which many companies had job openings. To attain a job that fit his interests, Hair needed to pursue a Master’s or a PhD, as such degrees were essentially prerequisites for any job in the science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields. This realization propelled Hair to the next stepping stone in his undergraduate life: participating in research.

It wasn’t until after his second year that Hair delved into the innovative research environment that Tech offers its students. He started out working at a materials science research lab for about seven months, until he felt “it just wasn’t a good fit”. In 2014, he switched over to a cardiovascular research lab, where he felt more comfortable and interested in the work which he was doing regarding finite element models of the aorta. It was at this point that he decided that he wanted to pursue a graduate degree and continue his research on Tech’s campus.

In addition to his research pursuits, Hair was a teaching assistant (TA) for multiple classes during his undergraduate years. Hair says that being a TA, “… is important; it helped me reinforce a lot of things I had already learned and helped me understand more about how the department was working.” Through his undergraduate studies and even into his time as a graduate student, Hair taught as a TA for BMED 2300, BMED 3110, BMED 3310, and BMED 3400. This continuous reinforcement of information and studies helped Jackson prepare for his eventual path to graduate school.

Hair came to a crossroads and had to decide if he would chase a Master’s or a PhD. He said, “I applied to a few labs, and I set a deadline for myself. If I got into a lab by the deadline, I’d do a PhD; if not, I’d do an MS.” This was one of the considerations in his thought process, while the other consideration was cost. Hair quickly realized, “A Masters, you pay for it all yourself, whereas a PhD is an assistantship… [The university] gives you a stipend and they cover tuition; it’s longer, but they pay you.” Similar to many other college students, Hair was somewhat tight on money, so he decided that the best path for his future was to pursue a PhD after graduating in 2015.

When asked to give advice to undergraduates, Hair said,

In addition, he also points out,“BME’s are treated kind of as a ‘jack of all trades’, so do your depth electives in similar areas so it establishes a stable understanding of the field, as it’s important to get some depth in some area.”

Reflecting upon his own experiences, Hair saw the opportunities available at Georgia Tech for its undergraduates are abundant and critical in shaping the lives and futures of its graduates.

Camila Pagan is an undergraduate senior in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) department here at Georgia Tech. Originally from Puerto Rico, she went on a college tour and visited Georgia Tech as her last stop. While on her tour at Tech, she visited Whitaker, where she was impressed by how the classes applied math and science in creative and artistic ways. One prime example was in a design and iteration class, BMED 2310, where she saw the design of a prosthetic foot medical device. Camila realized biomedical engineering wasn’t just crunching numbers and rigid formulas; it combined creativity and problem solving skills. She thus interned several times at Boston Scientific, where she became familiar with the industrial side of BME.

After deciding to attend Georgia Tech, Camila found the BME curriculum improved her chances to score internships because it provided her with a diverse skill set. She could choose specific classes that would give her skills companies found relevant to their job opportunities. In particular, her background in material science and her design & prototyping knowledge from BMED 2310 and her Industrial Design (ID) minor enhanced the importance of product iterations. Additionally, BMED 3100 provided critical background in physiology, allowing her to have a better grasp on designing medical devices suitable for the human body. Camila feels the curriculum gave her a holistic perspective on medical products and how to apply her knowledge in different contexts.

Camila has had three internships while at Tech: one at Eli Lilly & Co. in Summer 2017, and the other two at Boston Scientific in Spring 2017 and Summer 2018. Camila worked at both the Indiana and Minnesota locations for Boston Scientific, providing her with diverse experiences. Her first contact with Boston Scientific was at the BME career fair, which provided her the opportunity to interview for an internship with them in Spring 2017. Two months later, a Boston Scientific employee called and offered her an internship position at their Spencer, Indiana location, which is a manufacturing site close to Indiana University Bloomington. According to Camila, “[she] just couldn’t say no to them.” She worked with them as a Process Engineer on the manufacturing floor to analyze various product builds.

As a Puerto Rico native fluent in Spanish, Camila was asked to work on unique tasks such as working as a translator on a line transfer between Indiana and Costa Rica. This involved handling communications between both countries as well as training people on the job and observing interactions between them as they worked on their projects. She also worked in the Research & Development department, where she worked on the usability of materials, devices, and medications. For instance, she worked to improve the user experience of an insulin pen. Through these opportunities, she was able to network with other employees, which led to an offer from Boston Scientific’s Minnesota site for another internship there.

At the Minnesota site, she worked on the manufacturing floor once again, analyzing the product development cycle and the process of iterating and taking products to manufacturing. These products mainly involved interventional cardiology, as opposed to the endoscopy products that her first internship taught her about. She worked closely with her managers and other employees to discuss how she would tackle a certain project and to learn about the product development process. Also, she met with her higher-ups, allowing her to visually express her progress and next objectives to her bosses. These meetings provided her with valuable feedback, helping her piece together her path forward. This work model was ideal for her, as she enjoyed working with mentors who were willing to give her guidance while still giving her space to work independently. Internships such as these allow students to prepare themselves for full-time positions in their desired field, which is exactly what Camila did. She received full-time offers from all three of her internships. She ultimately chose the Maple Grove, Minnesota location in order to work with a larger, more expansive product portfolio.

The most gratifying aspect of Camila’s internships was the final presentations, where she showcased all the work she had done, and obtained feedback from people she did not typically work with. Comments such as, “that was good work, we’ve been trying to get that to work” gave her satisfaction of knowing her work made an impact. She wanted each piece of her work to be valuable to at least one part of the product development life cycle, and this kind of feedback allowed her to see that first-hand. Furthermore, Camila enjoyed the little “aha” moments she had where she saw the tangible application of the BME curriculum in practical, real-life situations.

Moving forward, Camila’s goals are to strengthen her industry experience, possibly via graduate school, to represent minority groups that she is a part of (i.e. Hispanic and female engineers), and to give herself a challenging experience in whatever work she pursues. In this way, she can show people that no matter what their background, they can do quality work and make a positive impact on other people. Now that she has a full-time position at Boston Scientific lined up for herself, she wants to understand the company more and see where she can make the biggest possible impact on the industry. She would love to say that “a product [she] developed is saving X amount of people”, but she is still looking for the specific change she wants to create. Her internship experience has helped her learn more about the long-term path she wants to take forward and thankfully, she has mentors for guidance and support.

Her advice for anyone currently pursuing an internship is: “When talking to companies, be genuine about who you are and what you do. Show your eagerness to learn more about your potential job quickly.”

Someone will have to give you your first bit of real-life experience, and if you show that you’re eager to learn and develop yourself as a person, you will come off as a valuable asset to the company you want to work for. No matter what kind of occupation you wish to pursue within the biomedical industry, no matter what schools you attend or what classes you take, and no matter what research labs/co-ops/internships you land before graduation, always be ready to learn more and never stop learning.

Abhinaya Uthayakumar is a Georgia Tech alumna who graduated in May 2017 with an undergraduate Biomedical Engineering degree and is currently working for Abbott (formerly St. Jude Medical) in their Regulatory Affairs Rotational Program. As a former Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer, she has helped shape the organization into what it is today.

Originally from Milton, GA, Abhinaya fell in love with healthcare technology and medical devices during high school through Science and Technology Fair competitions. “While I have great respect for both physicians and engineers, I gained a stronger desire to become the behind-the-scenes person connecting newly innovated medical devices to patients more than implanting them into patients.”

Being an in-state scholar with a natural propensity to pursue a bioengineering degree, she chose to attend Georgia Tech in the fall of 2013. Due to her flexible schedule with transferred AP college credits, she was determined to take classes outside her BME curriculum to gain a more well-rounded view of the world around her. As an Honors Program student, she did just that; she took classes ranging from Leveraging Social Networks to Medieval Atlanta. With this positive and proactive attitude for learning more, she believes that students will naturally learn essential sustainable problem-solving skills that will assist them with their future careers.

Within our BME curriculum, the two classes that have shaped her current career path were: BMED 2300 (now BMED 2310: Intro to BME Design II) and BMED 4602 (Senior Design). BMED 2310 introduced her to all different divisions of bioengineering and their roles in the design process. The class gave her freedom to reverse engineer any medical device, which encouraged her to look more closely into sports medicine – more specifically, an athletic mouthguard. Along with her teammates, they added a temperature detecting system (a digital sensor thermometer and a wireless Arduino Bluetooth connection to a tablet) to ensure detection of hazardous temperatures while keeping the athlete safe from injuries. This project exposed her to many different engineering disciplines, which contributed to her decision to stay in BME. Moreover, Senior Design further allowed to develop a prototype that addressed the issue of finding a quicker diagnosis for Crohn’s Disease – a topic sponsored by Boston Scientific in Ireland.

“A class I would go back to without any hesitation is Senior Design with Professor Rains. From day 1, I immediately wished we were offered more of these design courses throughout our BME curriculum – more than BMED 2300 and BMED 4602. I learn by doing. I began to enjoy failing, then analyzing, and having iteration #2 ready to go – without any penalties. It is all part of the process and to get closer to the end goal. That’s how the real world is, and I was prepared to handle it primarily due to this class.”

Outside of academics, she was actively involved on campus through student organizations and research. Since she wasn’t entirely sure of post-college plans, during her time at Tech, she experimented with all her plans to get a better idea of what she would truly enjoy doing. She spent researching at three different labs of various disciplines (Nanomedicine, Mechanical Engineering, and Learning Sciences) and credits her documentation skills and meticulousness to these positions. She interned as a Project Manager at Health Connect South and as a Strategy Intern at McKesson – a start-up and a Fortune 500 Company respectively. The contrast in these internships gave her exposure to different styles of leadership, delegation, and work ambience. By the time her search for full-time careers outside of these two offers came around, she had an idea of which work cultures would suit her personality and work style more.

“While most of my technical skills are from courses at Tech, I credit most of my leadership and interpersonal skills I learned in college to the extracurricular activities I engaged in.”

There are four primary organizations that have made a positive mark on her life at Tech — India Club at Georgia Tech, BME Learning Commons, President’s Council Governing Board, and The Pioneer. All four of these organizations and the people have pushed her to achieve feats that she believes, five years ago, she could never possibly do.

Abhinaya joined The Pioneer her freshmen year as a writer and moved onto Senior Writer, and then Editor-in-Chief. What drew her towards The Pioneer was her passion for communication, especially writing. She was interested in learning more about the BME community around her and all the unique activities the students and faculty engage in outside BME.

As the Editor-in-Chief, she aspired to make some time-demanding changes – by making sure more people were reading the news in an effective manner and those on the Pioneer staff were given more freedom with their articles. She eradicated the hierarchy and expanded the writers’ scope. Switching to an online platform was effective as more elements, such as recent posts and podcasts through the Learning Commons, could be added. She had an opportunity to conduct social experiments at the BME FASETs, to represent the organization at departmental events, and to serve as a panelist to talk to parents and students about the importance of being involved in our BME department. An idea that began when she was a Senior Writer was Pulses (Humans in BME) which gave her and others in Pioneer to talk to peers about their personal stories and inspiration to continue in our rigorous curriculum.

“Georgia Tech has had such a huge impact on my life. This is the place that made me lose sleep, but it is also the place that became home.”

When it came to finding new full-time opportunities her senior year, she was clear on working for a medical device company or start-up. Initially, she was solely interested in Product Development roles, but when an interview invite had come for St. Jude Medical’s Regulatory Affairs Rotational Program (now Abbott), she decided to learn more about that field.

“While our curriculum focused more from ideation to creation of a prototype, there was not too much focus on connecting a new device to the people. A successful biomedical engineer needs to understand the entire product developmental process, and that’s exactly what I am working towards in my current role.”

Currently in San Francisco, California for her second rotation in the program, she spent her first rotation in St. Paul, Minnesota working in the Structural Heart division. While her first rotation gave her exposure to operational regulatory affairs, her current role in Mechanical Circulatory Support handles the most regulated medical devices in the field – implantable devices. She is part of a multidisciplinary core team working on worldwide submissions of many new significant product innovations.

“Choosing to do a rotational program with Abbott is the best decision I have ever made. I am continuously learning about the medical device industry, meeting new people, and developing my leadership skills while getting to live and travel around the nation – and soon, the world.”

Abhinaya works with many biomedical engineers both in and outside of Regulatory Affairs, and she is a strong advocate for having the right engineering background for properly understanding how the medical devices work to understand if the new change is implementable and sustainable. For her, the most rewarding part of working at Abbott is the knowledge that her and her team’s work affects millions of people daily through their medical devices. She credits the BME curriculum for instilling in her the passion to work with devices that help patients live longer and more fulfilling lives.

Abhinaya is a textbook example of someone setting goals for themselves and accomplishing them to lead a positive and happy career and life. Her current position has given her a sense of fulfillment that she desires to carry forward throughout her career.

Teams who are interested in commercializing their medical technology may consider applying to the Coulter Translational Program (CTP). The CTP identifies early state patient impacting technology to help advance healthcare through commercialization. “What we do is carry out the legacy of Wallace H. Coulter by really impacting patient care through commercialization.” Shawna Khouri, managing director of the CTP, said.

Once teams are accepted into the program, the CTP works closely with research teams at each step of the process. First, the program conducts extensive upfront research before deciding to put money into a project. Once a project has been established, the team acts as the interim business management on said program. This is where the translation between research to business occurs.

The aim is to take innovative technologies from university research labs and develop methods for commercialization and clinical practice. CTP funds are available for any technology where Tech or Emory owns a part of the intellectual property. The annual budget of $1.2 million for all projects.

The CTP does more than just funding and providing an operational roadmap. Recently, the CTP initiated a monthly series of seminars discussing a variety of entrepreneurial topics.

The seminars aim to better inform those who want their technology to reach the commercialization. Speakers are a mix of the CTP team members and experts in the topic.

The seminars are also chances to understand obstacles the teams may encounter in their process of commercialization. Example topics include how venture capitalists think when seeing a new pitch for a business, and learning the basics of intellectual property. Other seminar topics include figuring out whether a product would be better suited in a partnership with an existing company versus a stand alone startup and getting an idea about the functionalities of different components of a company.

The program is geared towards anyone who is thinking about commercializing their product or what their translational strategy might be. Khouri and her team’s goal is to help these technology innovators gain awareness of these types of opportunities in order to have a better chance of successfully commercialization.

Khouri offers advice for those students who are interested in developing medical technology. She highlights the importance of developing strong mentors.

“We take pride and ownership into helping these tech fundable startup with professional management,” Kouri stated. Through the core principles that CTP holds along with its new monthly seminars, the process of translation of new technology to commercializing is streamlined for future innovators.