We attended the BIO 2010 conference to learn more about the confluence of the pharmaceutical and medical device industries in the growing field of personalized medicine. Based on the crowds at the conference and the encouraging stance of the FDA, there is a movement to bring us instrument geeks into the pharmaceutical business.
Those “core” classes in college may seem superfluous when trying to tackle an engineering curriculum, but I’m grateful that I was exposed to topics like business, philosophy, and psychology.
Last week I attended the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) 2010 conference in Chicago, where I learned that the biotech industry thinks Maryland is a great place to do business, and it’s on track to get better.
While Congress will be adding a new excise tax on device sales starting in 2013, it has provided up to a 50% tax credit for qualified pre-clinical and clinical activities conducted to get devices to market, starting in the 2009 tax year.
Prototypes are essential to testing system performance. However, due to the current technological constraints of creating microscale prototypes, compromises in the characteristics of the prototype usually must be made, which can lead to unforeseen, expensive problems on the production line. Fortunately, basic, fundamental models of significant aspects of the system (first-principles modeling) can be “calibrated” through the use of focused CFD models and empirical data. The result is improved models that allow the designer to bridge the knowledge gap between paper and production.
Do you know how an atomic force microscope works? You can satiate your curiosity and impress your friends with all kinds of intellectual knowledge by watching just one of the many open-courses freely available online. Educate yourself.
Over the past year or two, Key Tech has taken advantage of improvements in the usability and functionality of online tools to share information quickly and easily. Over the same period, we’ve observed dwindling attendance at industry conferences. So, where is everyone?
Recently, I published an article in MicroManufacturing Magazine about the challenges of designing microparts for manufacture. Not unlike any collaborative process, good communication is the key to a successful project.
The success of a new product, no matter how complex or innovative the technology involved, is directly tied to a lot of factors that have much less to do with science and much more to do with everything else.
Designing medical devices can be an expensive undertaking. It can cost thousands of dollars for a traditional setup to make microfluidic chips or a centrifuge to isolate the components of a multi-constituent sample. Luckily, the creative minds that are focused on solving complex, technical problems don’t stop working when there’s a tight budget.
