The city’s University at Buffalo and Gates Vascular Institute, a Kaleida Health Facility, are two strategically located key resources that are making an impact. They give entrepreneurs who collaborate with the i2R access to the top-tier educational assets and the networks they need to shepherd a medical device from concept through development and the difficult phase of market-specific testing.

The first two partnerships, announced following i2R’s launch in March, will give a relocated startup and an area manufacturer help in navigating the regulatory path, engineering medical devices and providing expertise in data analytics and other technical support along the way.

Brian Martin and Martin Dieck, two leading Silicon Valley biotech entrepreneurs and inventors whose stroke treatment device company Lazarus Effect was sold to Medtronic in 2015, went on to create their new company, Spinnaker. They decided to head East, and relocate in WNY, where Spinnaker became one of the i2R’s first projects. The startup’s innovative device is designed to prevent strokes during heart procedures by stopping potentially dangerous particles from breaking loose.

The second i2R project is a collaboration with Moog, Inc., an established East Aurora manufacturer known for its flight simulators. The company is applying similar technology to develop training simulators for cataract and dental surgery.

The Jacobs Institute 3-D-printed vascular models create a lifelike environment for i2R companies to test and validate their life-saving medical devices.

Both of the current i2R projects are in the early stages of development, and could take a couple of years to complete. For each additional new project, the completion timeline will depend on both the company and the idea itself.

While the city of Buffalo and greater Erie County community will benefit from i2R’s efforts, heart disease is a worldwide health issue, says Mike Springer, JI’s vice president, technology & operations.

“With high rates of vascular disease, not just here but globally, the Jacobs Institute’s vision for the i2R is to accelerate vascular medical device development so that physicians around the world can better treat heart attacks and strokes.”

However, it is the way the Jacobs Institute and i2R work with local area partners that make them invaluable to the region, he adds.

“The JI is a highly collaborative organization, working with numerous entities in the WNY entrepreneurial ecosystem—Kaleida Health hospital system, University at Buffalo, local industry, manufacturing and more.

”We can directly harness the power of these Buffalo-based partnerships to advance our vascular medical device innovation in the i2R. The Idea to Reality Center taps into great minds and unique resources to commercialize ideas and, we anticipate, create companies that also want to stay and take advantage of all WNY has to offer.”

For more information on the Jacobs Institute Idea 2 Reality Center, please visit https://jacobsinstitute.org/programs-services/i2r/.

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[Sources:

*http://www2.erie.gov/health/sites/www2.erie.gov.health/files/uploads/pdfs/cha.pdf

See page 24: “Heart Disease and Stroke: Cardiovascular Disease is the leading cause of death in Erie County (Buffalo). The rate of stroke death in this region is higher than the national rate and nearly 60% higher than the aggregate New York State rate. Erie County residents experience 33% more heart disease death than the average U.S. citizen.”

**Endovascular devices are placed inside the heart or blood vessels to prevent or mitigate strokes, heart attacks, aneurysms, and other diseases of the vascular system, and include a wide range of aortic and vascular catheters, sheaths, stents, valves, balloons, wires, retrievers, and more via Jacobs Institute.

https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/cardiovascular/heart_disease/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db254.htm

http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_492899.pdf]