Breathing Relief for COVID-19 Treatment Thanks to the PufferFish Ventilator
This open-source ventilator will directly aid medical communities in treating patients invasively and non-invasively by providing efficient, attainable breathing relief
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (September 2, 2020) — Pez-Globo, a worldwide collaborative effort comprised of Stanford University, Brown University, University of Utah, Bharat Forge, Blackrock Microsystems, and other partners, is developing an open-sourced full-featured ventilator designed to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
This ventilator uses readily-available, low-cost components with rapid global manufacturability in mind, and is designed with an easy-to-use interface to help clinicians treat patients more efficiently. “We all came together seeing the enormous need and realizing none of us could do this alone – we truly required a multi-university, multi-industry collaboration. This has been an incredible lesson in working together for a single cause,” said Manu Prakash, a faculty at Dept. of Bioengineering at Stanford. Dedicated to fighting COVID-19, the team of engineers and clinicians have created a ventilator using widely available parts that the team hopes will provide relief to communities that most need it.
PufferFish (ventilator named after a marine creature) will provide a critical care class solution for clinicians for both invasive and non-invasive treatment – supporting all stages that a patient needs support in the recovery process of this disease – to fight the global pandemic. Pez-Globo is working directly with teams from countries such as India, Kenya, Nepal, and Chile to ensure that PufferFish can be manufactured locally and is an appropriate solution for the global community. “We have really focused on the global clinical need to ensure we build an affordable ICU ventilator that supports all stages of this disease and is actually useful for clinicians,” said Prakash.
Blackrock Microsystems, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, was founded in 2008 and is the world’s leading provider of technology in the neuroscience, neural engineering, and neural prosthetics space. The company’s technology is at the core of worldwide innovations in Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI/BCI), implantable bionic technologies and epilepsy diagnostics. The Company’s vision is to provide innovative tools and neurotech expertise to translate technology into novel implantable clinical solutions that improve human lives.
Most impactful implantations of the Utah Array have been in tetraplegic individuals. Specifically, Nathan Copeland, from University of Pittsburgh, controlled a prosthetic arm to fist bump US President Barack Obama in 2016; Ian Burkhart, from Ohio State University is learning to control an automobile, and Nancy Smith from CalTech University is learning to play a virtual piano. Seemingly easy tasks, translated from thought through the Utah Array to Restore Function.
About Blackrock Microsystems LLC
Blackrock Microsystems, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, was founded in 2008 and is the world’s leading provider of technology in the neuroscience, neural engineering, and neural prosthetics space. The company’s technology is at the core of worldwide innovations in Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI/BCI), implantable bionic technologies and epilepsy diagnostics. Most impactful implantations of the Utah Array have been in some tetraplegic individuals from University of Pittsburgh’s Nathan Copeland, who controlled a prosthetic arm to fist bump US President Barack Obama in 2016; Ohio State University’s Ian Burkhart who is learning to control an automobile, and CalTech’s Nancy Smith who is learning to play a virtual piano. Seemingly easy tasks, all have used the Utah Array to translate their thoughts into action to restore function.
For more information about Blackrock Microsystems, the Utah Array or Auditory Nerve Implant, please contact Shilo Case, Marketing Manager at Blackrock Microsystems, (801) 582-5533 or scase@blackrockmicro.com
Media contact:
Shilo Case
+ 1 801 582-5533, ext. 222
scase@blackrockmicro.com
