J. Karp
Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School,
United States
Keywords: innovation, medical
Summary:
When developing technologies to solve medical problems, often one encounters significant hurdles, that at times seem insurmountable. Overcoming these hurdles requires new ways of thinking. One approach is to turn to nature for inspiration. Millions and millions of years of research and development at our fingertips, and all we need to do is look outside to the amazing creatures that inhabit our planet. This talk will explore medical technologies being developed that harness lessons from nature for inspiration, from creatures such as geckos, spider webs, jellyfish, porcupine quills, snails, to spiny headed worms. Another approach is radical simplicity - the art and discipline of reducing a problem to its essence. This tool has been harnessed to develop a new skin care approach that is advancing towards global market adoption, and therapeutic strategies to combat inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis that are advancing towards clinical studies. Some of the technologies that will be described are rapidly advancing to the clinic and some are already on the market helping patients. This talk opens new paths to the continual innovation that is so important in our fast-changing world.