CIMIT awards $5m in grants for medical technology

A Boston consortium that brings together medicine and engineering has awarded $5 million to 28 research teams, including major grants to combat life-threatening blood infections, to detect viral illnesses, and to use nanoparticles to halt the spread of cancer.

The Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology promotes collaboration among its member hospitals and universities. Four two-year, $500,000 grants among the 28 announced today reflect that emphasis.

Dr. Donald Ingber of Children's Hospital Boston will lead colleagues from Harvard Medical School, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, and Boston University in developing an "artificial spleen" to cleanse blood outside the body and fight the blood infection sepsis.

Another of the large grants will go to Utkan Demirci of Brigham and Women's Hospital, whose team includes investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital. They will create a disposable device that medical workers can use to monitor HIV infections on the battlefield or in developing countries with limited resources.

Another group, headed by Mehmet Toner of Massachusetts General Hospital and including researchers from MIT, is working on a viral-detection microchip to rapidly test for HIV or influenza in a doctor's office, on the battlefield, or in an ambulance.

The fourth large grant goes to Dr. Yolonda Colson of Brigham and Women's Hospital. Working with Mark Grinstaff from Boston University, she will use nanoparticles to deliver drugs to tumors in hopes of blocking cancer cells from reaching nearby lymph nodes.