ISSYS, UM Get $1.5M Grant For Pediatric Cardiac Implants
YPSILANTI -- Integrated Sensing Systems Inc. of Ypsilanti and the University of Michigan announced that they have received a $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop a tiny implant to measure blood pressure of infants and children with heart defects.
Dr. Martin Bocks, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Michigan and the project's medical principal investigator, said the goal is "to develop a wireless, implantable pressure sensor for our patients with complex forms of congenital heart disease. This pressure sensing implant has the potential to greatly improve the care we provide to our most complex patients and will provide us with unprecedented opportunities to learn more about their unique physiology."
Nader Najafi, ISSYS president and CEO and the project's technical principal investigator, added that "this grant aids us to develop wireless, batteryless, intelligent, miniature implants for patients with congenital and structural heart diseases. In particular, this grant paves the way for the start of clinical studies in infants and children with complex congenital heart defects. The pediatric medical device field represents unique commercialization challenges due to its small size and stringent requirements. We are grateful to NIH and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute for this needed support for the challenging pediatric device field. The University of Michigan is an ideal partner for us to develop this unique pediatric implant. The results of this effort will have important spillover effects for broader applications within the field of adult and pediatric cardiovascular medicine."
ISSYS is a leader in advanced MEMS technologies for industrial and medical devices, microfluidic and scientific analytical sensing applications. Founded in 1995, ISSYS is one of the oldest independent MEMS companies in the United States. ISSYS operates a "full manufacturing under one roof," multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art MEMS fabrication facility in Ypsilanti. ISSYS' quality system is certified to ISO 9001:2008 for industrial products, ISO13485:2003 for medical devices, and ISO13980:2002 for ATEX/IEC Ex approved intrinsically safe products.
More at www.mems-issys.com.
