I-Corps: Flexible biodegradable medical device tether and inserter

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to develop an understanding of the market needs for a novel biodegradable tether and inserter technology. Researchers have developed an inserter device which delivers a temporary tether into living tissue that can constrain medical devices within the body, while also permitting those devices to be easily removed if desired. Numerous surgical and implant applications might benefit from commercialization of this technology, and the market needs for these applications will be explored in this project. A potential application of the technology is with postpartum intrauterine devices (IUD) where this will mitigate medical complications caused by IUD expulsion events.This I-Corps project focuses on a novel technology for inserting a biodegradable tether into living tissue and interfacing with existing medical devices. This technology must permit the medical devices to be held in place during normal operation, but allow easy removal when desired. Researchers have fabricated alpha and beta prototypes that demonstrate reliable insertion of a biodegradable tether into explanted muscle tissue and shown sufficient anchoring force to constrain a medical device. Using the same tether, researchers have demonstrated easy removal of a medical device.