Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions: David McMullen of NIH on Blueprint Medtech, the program to help neurotech companies grow

David McMullen of NIH on Blueprint Medtech, the program to help neurotech companies grow

Aug 30, 2021

David McMullen is the program officer at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They are launching the NIH Blueprint Medtech (links below) which aims to help incubate growing neurotech companies go from Bench to Bedside.

Top 3 Takeaways

"We're funding individual projects and trying to help groups in the past have struggled... to get funding and to get all the way to in human trials.
The Blueprint Medtech resource is meant to derisk later investment and grants for companies
"We saw some great programs... having difficulty when they come in - Can we decrease the activation energy to getting to first-in-human? Can we compress the timeline a little bit Can we spend that money a little bit more wisely and improve some of these outcomes?"

0:45 "Do you want to introduce yourself?"

5:45 "Do you want to describe your job? What do you do and what is the program director do?"

7:45 "Do you want to talk about the Blueprint Initiative?"

9:45 "This sounds almost like a government-led VC, am I off in this?"

11:00 "Do you want to describe the project a little bit?"

13:30 What are some guidelines of the project to fund neurotech companies?

16:30 "Generally, what stage should the company be at?"

18:15 "How do the hubs work? When I think of a hub, I think of a physical, like one location but does it have to be like that?"

23:45 "Do you want to talk a little bit about the motivation for this?"

26:30 "Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you wanted to mention?"

NIH BLUEPRINT MEDTECH LINKS

https://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/neurotherapeutics/blueprint-medtech/blueprint-medtech

-Home website for the Blueprint MedTech program. Overall figure explaining the program on the front page. The site links to the webinars and funding opportunities.

Blueprint-MedTech@NIH.gov

Please reach out if you have any questions!

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:

October 20, 2021 First receipt date. Multiple receipt dates.

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-315.html

Blueprint MedTech Translator (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Optional)

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-282.html

Funding Opportunity TitleBlueprint Medtech: Small Business Translator (U44 - Clinical Trial Optional)

INCUBATOR HUBS:

Only 1 receipt date! October 20, 2021

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-314.html

Blueprint MedTech: Incubator Hubs (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)