A two-year-old, cross-disciplinary effort to invent new medical devices for children, co-founded by bioengineer Shuvo Roy, PhD, has received a two-year $1 million grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand its work.

The Pediatric Device Consortium, first funded in 2009, has already developed a device that uses magnets and minor surgery to correct the congenital deformity called sunken chest. The Magnetic Mini-Mover, now in clinical trials, could replace major surgery. Other devices for early onset scoliosis and gastrointestinal anomalies are in preclinical phases.

Co-led by Roy, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, and Michael Harrison, MD, director emeritus and co-founder of the Fetal Treatment Center at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, the consortium holds twice-weekly “think tank” sessions on the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses that bring together engineers, clinicians, and innovators from UCSF and industry to discuss new devices under development and brainstorm new ideas.

More: UCSF Consortium Collaborates to Invent Medical Devices for Children