These are exciting times for Dave Koolbergen, congenital cardiac surgeon at AMC. With his company Haermonics he hopes to bring a new technology to market for postoperative pericardial flushing. It was developed upon his observation that after heart surgery often the removal of accumulated blood and clots can be achieved by flushing the pericardial space with a warm saline solution. Koolbergen’s continuous postoperative pericardial flushing (CPPF) can save lives by achieving a strong reduction in postoperative bleeding and bleeding related complications, such as a life-
threathening acute cardiac tamponade.
Koolbergen is a veteran innovator – the CPPF method is not his first invention. In this case he decided, with helpful guidance by the IXA business developers, to bring his idea to market with Haermonics as a spin-off company. “Not only was this a business decision, for me it’s important to keep control of the realisation of my idea. I have not really considered finding a company to assist in further development.” He does admit that being Chief Medical Officer for Haermonics is quite a new experience. “It’s a lot of work which now and then interferes with my duties as cardiac surgeon. On the other hand there’s also lots of synergy, in running clinical trials and heading research projects.”
When Ard den Heeten, professor of Radiology teamed up with his AMC colleague Kees Grimbergen, professor of Medical Technology, a new approach to mammography was born. It has been developed upon Grimbergen’s observation of a serious flaw in the current mammogram procedure: the establishment of a standard force of the so-called “paddle” compressing the breasts. […]
Apply existing eye-tracking technology for the development of a state-of-the art digital instrument for orthoptic strabismus measurements. This clever idea by physicist Bob van Dijk is now nearly a reality with Laméris Ootech, a Dutch supplier of orthoptic practice equipment. In his office at VUmc Van Dijk proudly demonstrates his almost perfectly functioning prototype. “A […]
A huge range of people need to be able to speak English in today’s globalised world. VU researcher Laura Rupp developed a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), followed by more than 100,000 learners worldwide, teaching people how to understand the wide variety of accents in English and to speak more understandably themselves. She has also […]