Our Initiatives
Advancing Research for Point-of-Care Technologies
About
Overview
Cimit as a Scientific Center
In 2012, Cimit was selected by NIBIB as one of three scientific centers to develop healthcare technologies in POCTRN’s second funding cycle. Focusing on addressing unmet primary care needs, Cimit used its innovation process to identify and develop technologies into proof-of-concept prototypes. Thirty-one projects received funding under Cimit’s management.
Cimit as a Coordinating Center
One of the primary goals of POCTRN is to create a network that enhances complementary strengths among its members and builds multidisciplinary partnerships that lead to improved patient care.
Currently, NIBIB has invited six institutions to serve as scientific centers for the network. These centers are addressing a range of unmet testing, monitoring, and treatment needs for conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS in a spectrum of settings. One of the network’s goals is to have an impact on global health by focusing on initiatives that will positively impact health in low- and middle-income countries.
In 2018, NIBIB asked Cimit to serve as the coordinating center for POCTRN in an effort to deepen collaboration among the centers. Among Cimit’s responsibilities are to:
- help build connections among centers.
- amplify synergies support advancement of initiatives at and across centers.
- standardize the innovation process throughout the network.
Core Leads
Michael Dempsey
Subprojects Core Lead for CINTA; Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Consultant Innovator, Cimit
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Penny Ford-Carleton, RN, MS, MPA, MSC
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CINTA Staff
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
John Collins, PhD
Director Innovation Platforms, Cimit and CINTA
Challenge
Create a multidisciplinary network, across multiple academic centers, to develop innovative technologies that can evaluate health status at point-of-care or at-home to rapidly inform diagnosis and treatment for a range of conditions.
Impact
More than 50 percent of projects that received funding when Cimit was serving as a POCTRN center (2012-2017) were still active after five years. Two of the most advanced projects are:
- 1DropDiagnostics of Switzerland and Massachusetts worked on creating an easy-to-use device that detects disease biomarkers with laboratory quality from a single drop of blood at point of care. Its first clinical application was a panel of cardiovascular disease biomarkers.
- Photonicare of Illinois focused on producing a low-cost, optical imaging diagnostic device for improved management of otitis media. The tool enables the practitioner to see through the eardrum to directly visualize effusions and biofilms in the middle ear.
RADx® Tech is the premiere project that has emerged out of the POCTRN network since Cimit began serving as the coordinating center. Launched by NIBIB at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, RADx® Tech was designed to rapidly develop point-of-care, at-home, and clinical laboratory tests that could detect SARS-CoV-2.
Within months, POCTRN delivered tests to market, including the first over-the-counter COVID-19 test, and within three years it had facilitated the distribution of nearly 8 billion tests worldwide.
Activities
In its role as POCTRN coordinating center, Cimit:
- Advances collaboration across centers by identifying and supporting areas for integrated work, convening annual meetings, and hosting learning webinars.
- Employs its health innovation process to help funded teams atall centers efficiently advance ideas/projects toward commercialization.
- Leverages its CoLab tool and marketing expertise to help solicit and select the most promising projects.
- Tracks progress of all projects on Cimit’s Guidance and Impact Tracking System.
- Continually liaises with NIBIB to provide updates and ensure the program is meeting their goals.