Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the world’s leading causes of death and disability, leading to over 500 billion Canadian dollars in societal costs annually. Impaired blood flow to the brain has be recently identified as a main cause for ongoing brain damage after TBI. Control of brain blood flow is termed cerebral autoregulation (CA). Our ability to accurately measure CA in patients at the bedside in the intensive care unit (ICU), is limited to invasive techniques that require neurosurgery expertise and carry risk.

Medtronic is a global leader in medical technology and biomedical engineering, working towards non-contact vital signs detection. This technology would be especially helpful in the case of high-risk or premature newborns. Continuous or at least frequent monitoring of newborns outside of clinical environments improves quality of life for parents and newborns recently discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Feasibility of such monitoring depends in part on the monitors being non-invasive and non-obtrusive.

Medtronic is a global medical device company and leader in patient monitoring technologies that has a key area of interest for developing technology to effectively monitor patients' cerebral blood flow (i.e., perfusion) in relation to systemic blood pressure.
Maintaining a prescribed intra-operative blood pressure range for patients does not guarantee a healthy cerebral blood flow, as they are two independent feedback mechanisms.

Patients with cervical spine degeneration are difficult to diagnose and treat. Some patients will not benefit from surgical intervention while others require immediate surgical management to avoid permanent neurological deficits. Distinguishing between these patient groups is very difficult, and not effectively done with current protocols. Medical imaging is part of the current diagnostic protocol for these patients but the interpretation of the images and their contribution to patient diagnosis is unreliable and not consistent across radiologists.

We propose to develop in collaboration with Medtronic Canada a bioceramic drug delivery system for the local controlled release of Biphosphonates (BP) - drugs that prevent bone resorption - to promote both tumor inhibition and bone regeneration at the site of bone tumor resection, eliminating the need for high systemic doses and side effects associated with BP.

Providence Health Care has established a reputation as one of the leading centres for cardiology research and treatment in Canada. Medtronic of Canada is a major supplier of therapeutic cardiac equipment, technology and implantable devices, and works closely with Providence Healthcare to advance the science of cardiac treatment.

It is well known in Cardiology that chronic right ventricular apex (RVA) pacing (using a pacemaker to regulate heart rhythm by pacing the lower chamber of the heart near the base) might be detrimental to heart function. Right Ventricular Apex (RVA) pacing is the most commonly used for patients. Alternate sites such as right ventricular (RV) pacing, including right ventricular septum and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), have not been shown to be definitely superior over RVA pacing.