Projects

Since launching in July 2010, the Accelerator program has selected three projects, each of which has received approximately $200,000 in funding.

HanGenix Comprehensive Hand Hygiene Solution

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) are among the most urgent health and economic problems affecting more than 2 million people each year. Treatment costs for HAI’s are approaching $5 billion annually in the United States alone.  More significantly, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that nearly 100,000 deaths are caused by HAI's every year.  Proper hand hygiene is the best way to reduce the serious economic and health impact of these infections.

A Boston-based start, HanGenix is the first company to be spun out of the CIMIT Accelerator program. HanGenix is focused on reducing hospital acquired infections (HAI) by installing comprehensive hand hygiene solutions that remind clinicians to perform proper hand hygiene and document their compliance. The technology solution is based on an integrated system for monitoring, reminding and capturing data with respect to hand hygiene compliance within zones of patient care.

Mass General Hospital Health and Wellness Kiosk

Health and Wellness Kiosk (HAWK) is a portable, ATM-like, kiosk-based system for automating aspects of the care delivery process to improve efficiency, better manage patient populations and help provide access to basic healthcare diagnostic information. Physicians hope that the device will one day bring relief to the overburdened healthcare system, and allow doctors to intervene earlier in chronic disease.

The kiosk is designed to collect and relay test information in a much more streamlined fashion than that used today. And it is targeted, at least in part, to patients who might not otherwise visit a doctor's office. The device could be deployed in a variety of places: in a hospital, at a retail medical clinic drugstore, or even in a company, for employee use.

An automated system like the health kiosk could also be used to extend health-care access to the poorest nations. The kiosks, in combination with just a single physician or nurse practitioner, could provide common care to a huge percentage of people.

In developing nations, the kiosk could be used for vital follow-ups. It could be incredibly useful for routine follow-up for patients with issues such as tuberculosis or HIV. It's a way to follow up with physicians, demonstrate side effects and talk about whether patients are taking their meds.

Cell Research Core Liver Reperfusion Solution

Nearly one hundred thousand Americans are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. This severe organ shortage could be mitigated if a viable substitute for human tissue could be found. Cell Research Core (CRC) is a highly innovative solution to reperfuse livers to help make them viable for research and possibly human transplant.

The mission of the CRC is to provide high quality primary cells and tissues to researchers reliably and affordably. Leveraging a new MGH technology that significantly increases the viable yield of high quality hepatocytes from human and animal donor livers, they are initially offering hepatocytes to the research community.