Innovation Tank Ignites Big Ideas

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences hosted its second annual Innovation Tank, a competition designed to spark creative thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling real-world health care challenges.

Organized by the Office of Research, the team-based event brought together seven groups of students, faculty and staff from across DMU’s three colleges.

Each team participated in team-building activities before pitching a “Big Idea” to a panel of DMU judges and an audience of attendees. Volunteer judges from FastPath Solutions, the Iowa Osteopathic Medical Society and Microsoft evaluated teams on creativity, collaboration and marketability, while audience members voted for their favorite project.

“Innovation Tank is about creating a pathway for promising ideas at DMU to move beyond the initial concept and toward real-world impact,” says Pravin Mishra, PhD, MBA, chief research officer. “As we continue building DMU’s innovation ecosystem, we want to bring students, faculty and staff together across disciplines, give them the support to develop their ideas, and help promising innovations advance toward solutions that can improve health and patient care.”

While many details of the innovations remain confidential as teams explore patent protections and next steps, winning participants earned funding and support to continue developing their ideas into marketable solutions.

In addition to this year’s presenters, last year’s first- and second-place teams(opens in new tab) returned to share updates on how their projects are progressing. Their experiences reinforced a central idea behind Innovation Tank: You don’t need to have every answer. You need a problem worth solving, a credible direction and a team willing to keep figuring it out.

Winning Teams

First Place: TREL (Trail Rescue Extrication Litter)

TREL is developing a cost-effective solution to help search and rescue teams safely transport individuals from remote or difficult-to-access locations.

The team, consisting of Kelinda Shen, DPM’29; Allen Kempf, DPM’18, assistant professor in the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery and podiatrist at Des Moines University Clinic; Shane McClinton, PT, DPT’07, PhD, professor of physical therapy and physical therapist at DMU Clinic; and Mathew Johnstone, DPM, CPMS research liaison and assistant professor, received a package valued at more than $10,000 in software, services and funding to help advance the project.

Co-Second Place: The MIND Toolkit

The MIND Toolkit is exploring a new approach to telemedicine that would help providers monitor patients’ progress between sessions.

Team members included Muhammad Spocter, PhD, professor of anatomy; Maaz Khan, DO’29; Kaylee Eller, DO’29; Marlee Wall, MSA’30; and Medha Mageswaran, DO’29. The team received a package valued at more than $5,000 in software, services and funding to help advance their project

Co-Second Place: KinePlay

KinePlay is a board and digital game designed to help patients better visualize movement as part of managing chronic pain.

Team members included Steven Mather, PT, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy; Muhammad Spocter, PhD, professor of anatomy; David Plutschack, OTD, associate professor in the occupational therapy program; Mary Brown, OTD’28; Abigail Blum, OTD’27; and Riley Ericson, OTD’27. The team also received a package valued at more than $5,000 in software, services and funding to help advance their project.

People’s Choice: NF1-Combo-Cure

Earning the highest number of audience votes, NF1-Combo-Cure explores a potential approach to treating cancers caused by neurofibromatosis type 1.

Team members included Celia Monroy, DO’29; Maria Barnes, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and nutrition; and Elitsa Ananieva, PhD, professor of biochemistry and nutrition.

Other Participating Teams

TADI (Trustworthy Answers Delivered Immediately)

• Maria Barnes, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and nutrition
• Lisa Streyffeler, PhD, department chair of behavioral medicine, medical humanities and bioethics

Recovery Radar

• LiLian Yuan, PhD, professor of physiology and pharmacology
• Joshua Devine, PhD, department chair of public health
• Jillian Jones, PT, DPT, assistant professor of physical therapy
• Jared Datzman, DPH, assistant professor of public health
• Benjamin Volberding, DO’29

UltraFast Histology

• Daiwei Wang, DO’30
• John David McCance, DO’30
• Autumn McBroom, DO’30
• Kevin Carnevale, MD, professor of microbiology, immunology and pathology