Wednesday, January 25, 2012

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
M2D2 Innovation Hub Board Room
600 Suffolk Street, Second Floor
Lowell, MA  01854

Imagine spending precious time and money on an idea for a medical device that didn't work right, just because the product hadn't been prototyped and tested. It wouldn't be your best day.

The only way to know if your product looks and functions properly is to produce a prototype and then test it.  Having a good prototype made is also beneficial for market research so you have something tangible to show your investors and/or customers.

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process, or act as something to be replicated or learned from. Rapid Prototyping improves product development by enabling better communication in a concurrent engineering environment. 

A prototype has several benefits: The inventor, designer or implementer can receive valuable feedback from the users early in the project. It also allows the engineer to draw some insight into the accuracy of the initial project and estimate whether the deadlines and milestones proposed can be successfully met.  Inventors and product development teams can use rapid prototyping to help communicate their invention to customers, supervisors, manufacturers. Significant advantages of prototyping include reduction of project cost and risk.

This talk will detail various methods of developing prototypes for medical devices.  Case studies will be presented detailing medical device prototyping at various stages of the development process.  Topics will include:  CAD design and rapid prototyping methods, machined or custom manufactured prototypes, and prototype molding.  The presentation will address the limitations of prototypes and how the prototypes can effectively be tested and utilized in the development process.  The capabilities that the Plastics Engineering Department can offer M2D2 partners will be highlighted.

Speaker Info

Stephen Johnston, Ph.D. - Professor, Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Prof. Stephen Johnston holds a B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.  Dr. Johnston's teaching duties include undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of plastic product design, mold design, and injection molding.  His research interests include process development, process control, product design, and mold design for injection molding.  Prof. Johnston works closely with industry on numerous research projects, many of which are medical companies involved with M2D2 including:  TheraTorr Medical, 5G Medical, Vista Scientific, and Oz Technologies.

Registration Fee: $10.00

Registration Fee after January 20, 2012: $20.00

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For more information regarding this event please contact M2D2 at 978-934-3465 or by email