Device development lab

The creation of novel devices is a cornerstone of medical innovation. In Sunnybrook Research Institute’s device development laboratory—Canada’s first of this scope based in a hospital—scientists and engineers are designing and producing complex medical devices under highly controlled conditions. The aims are to design more effective and safer ways to detect disease, deliver therapy and guide interventions. Devices are then tested for proof of principle and, if successful, clinically, in collaboration with other researchers and clinicians. Where appropriate, our aim is to commercialize the devices we invent, so we can move them into the medical marketplace to benefit patients.

Main goals are as follows:

• To accelerate development of clinically relevant medical devices for large-scale or orphan applications
• To design, fabricate, test and validate candidate devices efficiently
• To create a centre of expertise for teaching skills related to device development, preclinical testing and validation
• To provide facilities and expertise that enable commercialization of new devices

Facilities within the device development lab include the advanced machine shop, with specialized equipment like a waterjet cutter; 3-D printers; a clean room; a catheter testing area and micro-machining equipment.

Devices of interest are, broadly classified, imaging detectors, therapy delivery vehicles, therapy-guidance technologies and therapy-localizing devices.