July 2021 Showcase

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Phase 2 Project Showcase and Networking

Monday, July 19th, 9am to 12:30pm EDT (15:00 to 18:30 CEST)
Celebrate the accomplishments of new and mature projects that originated from Catalyst. Some projects will be early in their journey, and may be seeking advice and help; others are more mature, so it will be a window into how things can progress.

9:00–9:10 EDT / 15:00–15:10 CEST
Introduction and orientation to Gather.Town

9:10–9:30 EDT / 15:10–15:30 CEST
Welcome

Martha Gray, Director, MIT linQ
Ryan Vega, Diffusion of Excellence Lead, US Department of Veterans Affairs
Michael Cima, Co-Director, MIT Innovation Initiative
Elazer Edelman, Director, MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

9:30–10:55 EDT / 15:30–16:45 CEST
Project mini-presentations. Descriptions below. Presentation order:

9:30 – Unused Opioids
9:35 – Pulse Oximetry and Skin Pigmentation
9:40 – Dr. Michael Charness, Chief of Staff VA Boston Healthcare System
9:45 – Medication Administration
9:50 – Improving Mental Health Support for Women in Fertility Clinics
9:55 – Mr. David Dunning, Director/CEO Memphis VA Medical Center
10:00 – Malaria
10:05 – Sneezalyzer
10:10 – Surgescope
10:15 – Veteran Access to Mental Health
10:20 – Birth Experience
10:25 – Fatal Opioid OD
10:30 – Maternal Health
10:40 – Barrier
10:45 – OSA
10:50 – Hydration

10:55–11:05 EDT / 16:50–17:00 CEST
Final remarks and transition to project booths

11:05–1:00 EDT / 17:00–19:00 CEST
Networking in Gather.Town: Project booths and Coffee Corner

Project descriptions

In presentation order

Low participation in drug disposal result in the accumulation of millions of unused opioid pills in the community. These unused opioids are the primary exposure event for patients who develop opioid addictions and experience opioid-related adverse events. Reducing this source of opioids can reduce the harm of unprescribed opioid exposure. Our project aims to develop a pill bottle that automatically inactivates unused opioids, after the prescription window ends, through timed release of a modifying/inactivating agent contained within the bottle. Removing active participation/effort by the patient will increase disposal rates and reduce the number of unused opioids available for misuse, abuse, and diversion.

Thousands of times a day, doctors and nurses use pulse oximeters to noninvasively measure the percentage of oxygen in the blood and make vital treatment decisions in conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and now COVID-19. Based on a recent New England Journal of Medicine study (Sjoding et al. 2020), pulse oximeters are three times more likely to lead to an incorrect clinical decision in Black patients compared to white patients. However, previous research examining the association between skin pigmentation and pulse oximetry has not established whether skin pigmentation alone is the cause of reported differences in pulse oximeter measurements between darkly pigmented and lightly pigmented individuals. Therefore, we propose a novel research study to isolate skin pigmentation and determine the relationship between skin pigmentation and pulse oximeter measurements, which, if solved, could: 1) assist the FDA in reassessing the content of its pulse oximetry guidance document, 2) enable pulse oximetry manufacturers to determine whether to recalibrate their devices for darkly pigmented individuals, 3) aid clinicians in determining the choice of pulse oximeter for darkly pigmented patients which provide accurate and timely interventions.

Medication errors are one of the leading causes for patient harm in all hospital settings. Bar code medication administration systems have reduced medication administration errors. However, emergency departments have been slow to adopt these systems due to the emergent nature of the clinical scenarios and the workflow burden that these systems place on nurses. We are proposing a new system which will track and document medication administration events in the ED without impacting nurse workflow.

Women who seek treatment from a fertility clinic experience high levels of anxiety and depression and barriers in accessing mental health support, and high physical and psychological burden of treatment. Today, access to mental health support is not always offered to women in the fertility clinic. If they are offered it, they must wait for an appointment with a mental health counselor (2-4 weeks). Our solution is a digital health platform that provides mental health care to patients at fertility clinics in tandem with physicians. The goal of this platform is to reduce time-to-access mental health care and improve patient satisfaction.

Malaria has high mortality and morbidity in developing countries. Health authorities use epidemiological surveillance indicators to allocate resources to control malaria. Patients are identified using rapid diagnostic tests and microscopy, which fail to detect infections of less than 100 parasites/μl blood (typically asymptomatic). As a result, 30% of infections are missed and the prevalence of malaria is underestimated. Our project wants to tackle this problem by developing a gold nanoparticle DNA sensor that is capable of detecting patients with low parasitemia. The test will be non-invasive and point-of-care, two features that make it optimal for surveillance campaigns.

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is an invasive diagnostic procedure to identify lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). Under conscious sedation, it uses a flexible bronchoscope to collect a fluid sample from deep lung regions for further examination. BAL has a high diagnostic value; however, it entails discomfort, possible injury leading to painful breathing. There is a need for a low-risk sample acquisition tool that provides simple access to specimens allowing high-sensitivity LRTI diagnosis. The project proposes sneeze as a biomaterial from the lungs enriched in LRTI-specific biomarkers and Sneezalyzer, an innovative sampling device that induces sneezing and retains aerosol output. The non-invasive and pain-free solution offers high diagnostic potential with improved patient safety and experience.

Surgescope has the mission to reduce the impact and outcomes of colorectal cancer in patients by harnessing free margins during tumor resection surgeries. Surgescope bridges augmented surgery and digital histopathology into a live intraoperative and collaborative suite. Through real-time observation of tumors with a fluorescence confocal laser endomicroscopy, Surgescope provides AI-powered decision-making tools for surgeons and pathologists to assess tumor markers and ensure free margins during surgery.

Currently in the VA, when a consult is ordered for mental health services, the intake coordinator invests an immense amount of time gathering the necessary information to schedule the Veterans with the most appropriate mental health clinic. This often results in delayed care for veterans, and veterans’ sometimes don't get connected to mental health. The goal of the MH Access project is to develop a clinical decision support tool that will collect relevant information from EHR, referring provider, about the veteran being referred so the intake coordinators can more efficiently triage patients and get Veterans seen for mental health as soon as possible.

As many as 1 in 3 women report poor experience with childbirth that significantly affects their physical and mental health well-being postpartum. We propose creating a new mobile-based application that can help expectant mothers and families better prepare for labor, and respond to unexpected labor situations in real-time. This will ground expectations, enhance experience of autonomy, improve communication with providers, and assist in the transition to post-partum care thereby improving the overall childbirth experience.

Veterans have nearly twice the rate of death due to opioid overdose compared to the general population. Accidental opiate overdose causes respiratory arrest leading to death. Naloxone is an effective and accepted treatment to reverse respiratory arrest and prevent death in opiate overdose, but, due to the impairment of overdose, requires another person to administer the drug. Drug overdoses often occur in settings where there is no one to administer naloxone or where naloxone is not available. There is a need for an intervention to administer naloxone when patients with opiate use disorder overdose alone. If the intervention is successful, fewer people who use opioids will die from opioid overdose.

Unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are increasing, despite public awareness campaigns. Condoms are the only reversible contraceptive option for men, and the only method for STI prevention in sexually active individuals. When used appropriately, condoms are effective in preventing STIs and pregnancy, yet condom use is low in communities where these unintended consequences are highest. The problem is that users complain that condoms don't feel great and ruin the experience. Our team is focused on changing this perception by designing a new condom and applicator that enhances the sexual experience.

For patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who cannot tolerate or refuse usage of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment it’s a challenge to sleep without obstruction to breathing (apnea). Today their best options are oral prostheses called mandibular advancement devices (MAD) that are designed to mechanically move the jaw forward or a tongue retaining device (TRD) that pulls the tongue forward out of the mouth. Unfortunately, these devices are poorly tolerated and may lead to persistent jaw and tongue pain, and dental or facial deformity. There is currently no effective therapy that a majority of OSA patients can tolerate on a consistent basis for treatment of apnea. Thus, there is a need for an alternative therapy that allows OSA patients to breath without obstruction and minimizes discomfort and disturbance of sleep. If solved this would have the impact of reducing obstruction to breathing during sleep, improving patient health and lifespan while improving quality of life.

Some individuals, particularly those who are elderly, are vulnerable to becoming slowly dehydrated, placing them at greater risk of sequelae including confusion, falls, urinary tract infections, and more. The treatment is simple: drink fluids. However, because there are no methods for regularly monitoring for dehydration, individuals don’t know to take urgent action. The technology we’re developing in this project is a new type of skin-contact sensor that shows promise in assessing fractional water content based on the differential dielectric properties between water and other tissue constituents.