BME Professor Jim McGrath has received I-Corps funding for his project entitled Portable Hemodialysis which aims to develop a portable hemodialysis system for acute renal replacement therapy that clears toxins at rates required for human treatments. The McGrath lab will develop a multichip dialysis prototype that clears urea (acute kidney failure) and ammonia (acute liver failure) from blood at a rate (10 mL/min) typical of standard dialysis machines.

The NSF I-Corps program gave us an opportunity to investigate the commercial viability of our ideas for wearable hemodialysis by talking to 100 potential ‘customers.’ These customers included patients, doctors, caregivers, dialysis center and hospital administrators, first responders, engineers, social workers and more. The experience transformed our understanding of hemodialysis, how it is administered, and where the technology needs actually are. We’ve used the I-Corps experience to write highly informed and focused grant proposals to the NIH that we hope will enable us to translate our technology and actually improve the life of patients with end stage renal failure, said McGrath.

Department of Biomedical Engineering Professors Dr. Hani Awad and Dr. James McGrath were recently inducted as American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellows for their significant contributions to the biomedical engineering community.

AIMBE's College of Fellows includes around 1,500 individuals who have made significant contributions to the medical and biological engineering community whether in academia, industry, or government and their contributions to research, industry practice, and education have transformed the world.