Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron

On Sept. 17, the Summit County Historical Society (SCHS) and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Akron (PAGA) announced the winners of the 2012 Architectural Heritage Awards at Akrona Galleries.  Awards were presented by Diane Orender, PAGA board president, and Leianne Neff Heppner, SCHS executive director, and the panel of jurors...

Northeast Ohio must be drinking its milk, because the region's orthopedics industry is growing up to be big and strong.  Experts say the surge in activity in the field, which focuses on the study of the human musculoskeletal system, is due largely to the melding of the region's expertise in advanced materials and health care.  Basically, Northeast Ohio is good at building stuff and then sticking it inside people to fix their ills. That's how it was characterized by Dr. Thomas Graham, chief innovations officer at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the health care juggernaut's business development arm.  Dr. Graham, who also is the Clinic's vice chairman for orthopedic surgery, said the orthopedics field “is a very big tent.”  “A lot of people can convene in it, and I think that's very exciting when engineers can speak to surgeons, therapists and investors...”

Inside a nondescript downtown building, a mock hospital and high-tech spaces to dissect human cadavers and create lifesaving medical devices are part of a plan to shape the region’s future.  Leaders say the launch of the new $13.3 million headquarters for the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) at 47 N. Main St. is a pivotal step in their attempt to expand the local economy through medical-related research, education and commercialization...

When a doctor sees a problem with current options for patient care, the Center for Biomaterials and Medicine is there to help find a solution.  The biomaterials center “is really the basic research arm” of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, said Matt Becker, the center’s co-director and an associate professor of polymer science at the University of Akron...

In 2008, the leaders of Akron’s three hospital systems, the University of Akron and the Northeast Ohio Medical University (Neomed) put aside their competitive differences to forge a groundbreaking partnership.  Since then, the five founding partners in the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron have seen the results.  The Beacon Journal asked the leaders of Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron General Health System, Summa Health System, the University of Akron and Neomed to share their thoughts on the partnership...

Akron-area partners are working together to develop what they hope will be cures for health problems experienced nationwide.  As its name suggests, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron’s Center for Community Health Improvement “is committed to improving the health of the community,” said Janine E. Janosky, vice president and head of the center.  The center is developing numerous programs to improve residents’ health and, ultimately, lower health-care costs for employers, Janosky said...

A “Proto Zone” tucked away from sight on Maiden Lane near the Austen BioInnovation Institute’s headquarters in Akron is bringing ideas for new medical devices to life.  The prototype lab, which opened about a year ago, is part of the institute’s Medical Device Development Center.  The institute is leasing the space in an old storage building to house the heavy-duty machinery that’s needed to craft working prototypes for medical devices invented by doctors, engineers and scientists at the founding partners...

A walk through the first floor of the new Austen Bio-Innovation Institute headquarters is like a visit to a local hospital.  From the little boy in a hospital bed who blinks, turns blue and asks for his mommy to the drive-up ambulance bay with large sliding glass doors, all the details in the simulation center are meant to mirror the real thing.  The 30,000-square-foot simulation center is the cornerstone to the facility, in downtown Akron on North Main Street...

As president and CEO of Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA), Dr. Frank Douglas has learned firsthand the impact that successful collaboration can have on turning around economic growth. But he says that just because organizations choose to collaborate, doesn’t mean that they know how to do it successfully...

Recently, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron held a value-driven engineering conference including some of the country's leading doctors and innovators. The two-day conference, which attracted nearly 300 people, focused on topics such as maximizing value for patient and healthcare systems, medical device complexity and educating the next generation of value-driven engineers.  The institute, which is supported by a $20 million grant from Knight Foundation, is a collaboration of five major clinical and academic institutions focused on making the Northeast Ohio region a leader in using polymer technology for patient-centered health care. The institute seeks to expand on the area's strong tradition in industrial and material science to help lead the next generation of life-enhancing and life-saving innovation...

A partnership that is shaping Akron’s economic future soon will move into its new home in the heart of the city.  The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron is finalizing its new headquarters, located in the bottom three floors and the basement of the old Summit County Job & Family Services building at 47 N. Main St.  The $12.8 million renovation is expected to be complete by May, with a grand opening following in June, said Dr. Michael Holder, the BioInnovation Institute’s director of the Center for Simulation and Integrated Healthcare Education...

In recent weeks, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) announced the first medical device company to emerge from our unique collaboration of leading health-care and educational organizations. Apto Orthopeadics offers hope to thousands of children whose curved spines require frequent and painful surgeries... 

A partnership has launched an effort to improve the health of Summit County residents with the help of as much as $2 million a year in federal funds.  The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron joined more than 60 other social service and medical organizations last week to kick off its Accountable Care Community project...

A local partnership founded to boost medical-related research and economic development has spawned its first company.  The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron announced on Thursday the launch of an orthopedic device company called Apto Orthopaedics.  The startup firm initially is developing a device to treat children with a curvature of the spine known as scoliosis without requiring multiple, painful surgeries. But institute leaders say the home-grown technology could lead to additional products that offer less invasive treatments for fractures and other conditions...

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron has given birth to its first start-up company.  Apto-Orthopaedics will test and hopes in a few year to market a new magnetic device that will eliminate the need for numerous surgeries for children with early on-set scoliosis or curvature of the spine.  Drs. Todd Richmond, an orthopedic surgeon at Akron Children's Hospital, and Dr. Stephen Fening of the Austin Institute built a prototype of the device which could adjust to the child's growth by magnetically turning screws on an implant placed on the spine. That would virtually eliminate the current required incisions every six months, as a child continues to grow...

A group of five Milwaukee leaders — including an Akron native — visited the city Wednesday for less than 24 hours to learn how community and business leaders collaborated in developing the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron.  The visit was related to a trip last fall to Milwaukee by 40 area community leaders to learn about innovations employed by another industrial Midwest city...

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron is making an impression on exactly the kind of partners it needs — partners that allow the institute to play to the research and technical strengths of its local and regional base.  The institute and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week announced an agreement to collaborate in projects to understand the characteristics of new biomedical materials and polymers and to develop effective methods to assess their safety and performance in medical devices, such as pacemakers and replacement joints...

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron is collaborating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to share its expertise in the use of biomaterials and polymers in medical devices.  The goal of the partnership is to help the FDA more effectively regulate the safety and performance of the materials when they’re used in the manufacture of medical devices, according to a statement from the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA)... ....

Stephen Fening wasn’t content to heal one person at a time.  So the orthopedic devices director at Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, Ohio, has devoted his career to engineering products that help hundreds of surgeons improve thousands of patients’ lives every year.  Fening will lead a seminar on the topic of orthopedic innovation at this week’s Orthopedic Design & Technology Forum Supplier Expo. More than 70 exhibitors have registered for the expo at Grand Wayne Center...

In response to chronic health conditions, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA), its founding members, and numerous community organizations have joined to launch a first-of-its-kind Accountable Care Community, which will use the full force of the Summit County, Ohio, community to combat the region’s health concerns...

Two years isn’t a long time to be in business, but Austen BioInnovation Institute is showing that ambition, commitment and a mountain of local community support can do to make a major impact in a short amount of time... 

Today, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron held a conference called Healthier by Design: Creating Accountable Care Communities. Over 130 medical, pharmaceutical, university and public health professionals from around the nation attended. ABIA plans to engage the community to create a model for health promotion and disease prevention and increase the quality and delivery of service. ABIA president and CEO Frank Douglas said the goal is to “lessen the burden of disease, thus reducing healthcare costs and improving lives and the productivity of the community."...

With the intent to create a healthier community and lessen the burden of disease in Akron, the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) has launched its Accountable Care Community initiative at the conference "Healthier by Design: Creating Accountable Care Communities" held today.  Led by national and regional health and wellness thought-leaders, the strategic discussion is the first step in building a plan of health promotion and disease prevention that determines how to best deliver and provide access to quality care and services for the entire community...

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, Ohio, has released a white paper on value-driven engineering that aims to reduce unnecessary complexity of design of medical devices, according to a release by the Institute.  To encourage this approach, which would lower device costs, the Institute proposes to revamp funding and regulations of devices and introduce public-private collaborations. One example of value-driven engineering is a one-use patch developed by iRhythm Technologies that allows patients to monitor their heart rhythms over a fortnight for about the same cost as a blood test... 

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron is leading a national push to make the United States more competitive globally in the medical device industry.  BioInnovation Institute President and Chief Executive Dr. Frank L. Douglas joined with other industry leaders on Thursday to unveil proposals to reduce the complexity of getting new products approved, boost public and private funding and attract more young talent to the biomedical field...

Construction is expected to start by early May on a new downtown headquarters for the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, the partnership's leader announced on Thursday.  BioInnovation President and Chief Executive Frank Douglas shared updates about the collaborative venture with about 350 area business, health-care and political leaders during an annual community update breakfast at the John S. Knight Center in Akron...

Last week Mayor Don Plusquellic announced a new biomedical start-up incubator with an eye toward attracting medical device hopefuls from around the world. It’s an extension of the Austen BioInnovation Institute, which has been nurturing the ideas of local students and doctors for the past 16 months, says its president and CEO, Frank Douglas...

Leaders from industry, academia and the public and private sectors have called for the creation of a public-private coalition as part of a roadmap for the biomedical sector and to retain the United States' lead in medical device development and innovation.  Gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Value-driven Engineering and U.S. Global Competitiveness Safe Haven Summit - sponsored by the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA)...

 The head of Akron’s Austen BioInnovation Institute was named one of 17 national “Rock Stars of Science” last year.  But in a speech at the Akron Roundtable today (Thursday), Frank  Douglas said the collaboration that created the institute – and the innovative work coming out of that – is what is drawing national interest from investors, researchers and the national government. That includes the FDA.  The institute is a collaboration of Akron’s five big medical and educational institutions focused on polymers, wound care and orthopedics...

Sixteen researchers and business students have been selected to help transform medical and scientific research findings into start-up companies that create local jobs. The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron has teamed with the University of Akron College of Business Administration to offer the Women’s Entrepreneurship Program. The selected participants will take free classes at the College of Business Administration and receive hands-on help from local and national experts in transforming research findings into commercial opportunities...

Brian L. Davis, with the Austen BioInnovation Institute, will talk about innovation in the medical device industry and what it means for local entrepreneurs at a Thursday presentation. The program from 5 to 8 p.m. is free and open to the public. It is a gathering of the Entrepreneur’s Idea Exchange at UA’s College of Business, aimed at experience, new and would-be business owners...

The GAR Foundation recently approved $651,000 in grants to support operations and programs at 17 nonprofit organizations… The largest grant this quarter went to the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, which received $150,000 to help launch its Patient Education Program targeted toward low-income patients with diabetes...