Catalyzing the Advancement of Med & Biotech Research into Technology and Device Solutions
For the second installment of the MIDI Innovation Vault Podcast series exploring global MedTech and Biotech Accelerators and Incubator Labs, MIDI Principal Greg Montalbano sat with Meghan Pinezich, an executive team member of Columbia University’s biomedical engineering technology accelerator, BiomedX.
LISTEN TO THE BiomedX MIDI PODCAST HERE
The following is MIDI’s BiomedX podcast episode Executive Summary from the series titled:
The Deep Dive into Medical Accelerator & Incubator Labs
BiomedX and Executive Leadership Overview:
Formerly known as the Columbia-Coulter Research Partnership, BiomedX is one of several accelerators contained within the Columbia Lab-to-Market Accelerator Network, a cross-disciplinary cooperative spanning an array of fields that supports all Columbia-affiliated accelerators. Focused on biomedical technology, BiomedX offers funding, education, and mentorship to Columbia-based teams of clinicians, scientists, and engineers using innovative research to address unmet needs in the clinical field.
An alumna of BiomedX herself, Meghan is passionate about their mission to, in her words, “catalyze the advancement of biomedical technologies from the bench to the bedside.” Holding a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in the laboratory disciplines of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering. While pursuing her Ph.D., Meghan is also continuing to work on the technology she took through the program, a surgical sealant intended for use on the lungs.
BiomedX Lab-to-Market Boot Camp Overview:
Like many startups, BiomedX participants often lack any experience or knowledge in entrepreneurship at their introduction to the medical device industry. For these innovators, the major hurdle of device design is not pioneering novel technologies but finding suitable applications and users for them.
Designed to address precisely this, the BiomedX Lab-to-Market Boot Camp is a semester-long course that guides participating teams through the process of preparing for commercialization while providing instruction on relevant topics such as stakeholder requirements, market analysis, intellectual property, regulatory strategies, and more. This boot camp aims to bridge the gap between early research and commercial investment and gives a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of pre-commercialization activities. It has participants perform them, providing ongoing feedback on results. In this way, the program is not only a technology-agnostic class on commercializing medical devices but a vehicle for doing so, as teams build their device and commercial strategy over its course.
At the boot camp’s conclusion, participating teams are invited to vie for funding by presenting a pitch to the BiomedX oversight committee, consisting of academic, clinical, and industry experts with a diverse array of experience and knowledge in entrepreneurial endeavors. While members of this committee judge proposals for funding, they also continuously mentor and advise participants, often coaching them hands-on prior to the competition.
With their Lab-to-Market boot camp, BiomedX allows participants to perform their first forays into commercialization under the instruction and supervision of industry top minds. The accelerator also offers access to a massive network of contacts for potential collaboration and funding. It presents a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs in their earliest stages.
To learn more about BiomedX and the other accelerators, incubator labs, and development communities helping the research of today become the cutting-edge medical technology of tomorrow, visit the MIDI Innovation Vault™: https://info.midipd.com/podcast
If you have any questions or comments about MIDI, BiomedX, or would like to schedule a complimentary consultation with Greg Montalbano about your business, you can reach him by phone at 1-631-467-8686 or email at innovation@midipd.com.
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