In accordance with the College of Cincinnati (UC), Enterprise Lab startup Meteora3D is on the forefront of offering ultra-fast, patient-specific 3D printed anatomical fashions for surgeons worldwide. Thus far, the startup has raised over $500,000, together with $275,000 from the celebrated Nationwide Science Basis SBIR Part I grant and practically $200,000 from UC’s Enterprise Lab. Moreover, the corporate has a pending patent by means of UC’s Workplace of Know-how Switch and is at the moment testing its first beta prototype, with plans already in place for second and third iterations.
Meteora3D was formally integrated in August 2023 and the corporate secured its first main grant by means of Ohio’s Entrepreneurial Companies Supplier program in Could 2024, enabling continued prototype improvement. Working with the College of Cincinnati Faculty of Drugs, the group is now clinically testing its expertise to refine and develop its capabilities throughout a number of surgical specialties.
Surgeons rely closely on contact and spatial consciousness to navigate complicated procedures. Conventional 2D imaging strategies comparable to CT scans usually fall wanting conveying a complete anatomical image of sufferers.
“For surgeons, understanding anatomy by means of two-dimensional photographs will be difficult,” stated Prashanth Ravi, CEO of Meteora3D. “3D printing presents info in a manner that aligns with how they suppose and work. That’s what drives us – to assist them carry out their jobs extra effectively.”
Meteora3D’s journey started inside UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub, the place Ravi participated within the UC Enterprise Lab pre-accelerator program in 2022. Preliminary prototypes had been developed utilizing high-performance 3D printers and CNC machines on-site on the UC Floor Ground Makerspace contained in the 1819 constructing. The Enterprise Lab program and 1819 sources supplied important enterprise steerage, serving to transition the group’s analysis right into a startup with a viable industrial product.
“Entry to the Enterprise Lab’s unimaginable mentorship and early funding, and the maker house’s state-of-the-art infrastructure, had been instrumental in Meteora3D efficiently executing early prototyping and buyer discovery,” stated Ravi.
Whereas medical 3D printing exists, present options can take days to supply a single mannequin – an impractical delay for trauma and emergency circumstances. Meteora3D’s printing expertise drastically accelerates this course of – enabling the creation of same-day patient-specific organ fashions. Holding a precise duplicate of a affected person’s organ earlier than surgical procedure permits higher planning, diminished operative occasions, and improved affected person outcomes.
Meteora3D’s expertise has already demonstrated its potential in real-world purposes. In a single case, a 3D printed stomach vessel stent mannequin helped an interventional radiologist decide the perfect stenting strategy.
With the speedy evolution of automation and pace in medical 3D printing, Meteora3D goals to make this expertise extra accessible to hospitals and sufferers. “On the finish of the day, that’s what drives us – figuring out that our work will instantly enhance affected person outcomes,” stated Ravi. “Be affected person, keep curious, and benefit from the course of. Innovation takes time, however the influence it could have on lives makes each problem value it.”
