I've also been part of (or lead) the design teams of several LVADS (one of which is in the Smithsonian), a dialysis machine (Outset), a surgical navigation camera for NuVasive, and most recently a couple soft tissue surgical robotics systems. First, Ottava from Auris/Verb/J&J, and most recently the Maestro from Moon Surgical:
https://www.moonsurgical.com/
I can't decide which is coolest, Oregon Heart or Moon Surgical. What do you think?
P.S. I also completely re-plumbed our old home in Golden, CO both fresh and black. Including personally jackhammering up the basement floor, digging a 5ft trench across the whole basement and replaced the sewer pipe and roughing in a full bath I the basement before covering it all back up.
That article seems really interesting, but it's over five years old. Are there any updates on the artificial heart? Did it ever make it to human trials?
They did several successful animal trials which were very promising and demonstrated the thing really worked well.
Unfortunately the CEO was a career academia finance guy and this was his first startup. He wasn't good with their money, and spent it all, much on "side projects" and other stuff not directly related to the development and financing of the pump, before he was able to raise more. The project was also heavily associated with and funded in part by OHSU's Heart Transplant program which has had its own problems over the last few years:
https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2019/07/deaths-at-ohsu-hea...
The architect of it, the guy who just thought it up, is brilliant. I chose to work at OregonHeart to have the opportunity to work with, and learn from him. Dr Richard Wampler is wonderful, one of those old school American treasures. When he was a kid he took apart his families car engine because he was curious, his mom got upset and he put it all back together before his dad got home.
He first envisioned, architected and got going:
What eventually became the HeartWare HVAD, way before it was heartwarming (it was Kriton). Some crazy business history here if you want to read more, it's like a soap opera.
Thoratec HM II (he helped but didnt architect it I believe)
Oregon Heart
VADovations
And the first one, the Hemopump which J&J bought and threw in the trash, only to buy what is essentially the same device 30 years later in their acquisition of Abiomed and their impella devices.
There is so much fascinating history in this field. They even made a totally mechanical (no electronics whatsoever) artificial heart using the thermal decay of plutonium to power a sterling engine.
P.P.S. I have more info about these, and all the other projects I've worked on on my website at
www.iancollmceachern.com
https://news.ohsu.edu/2018/03/08/have-an-artificial-heart
I've also been part of (or lead) the design teams of several LVADS (one of which is in the Smithsonian), a dialysis machine (Outset), a surgical navigation camera for NuVasive, and most recently a couple soft tissue surgical robotics systems. First, Ottava from Auris/Verb/J&J, and most recently the Maestro from Moon Surgical: https://www.moonsurgical.com/
I can't decide which is coolest, Oregon Heart or Moon Surgical. What do you think?
P.S. I also completely re-plumbed our old home in Golden, CO both fresh and black. Including personally jackhammering up the basement floor, digging a 5ft trench across the whole basement and replaced the sewer pipe and roughing in a full bath I the basement before covering it all back up.