Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Photo: PD.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is teaming with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCH) to improve the design of pediatric medical devices.

“The pediatric sector of medical device development has been neglected throughout the years and only a small fraction of medical R&D funding has been devoted to pediatric medicine,” said Netta Cohen, chief executive officer of BGN Technologies, the Israeli university’s technology transfer company.

In the new partnership, CCH doctors will provide “detailed insight on specific medical device challenges and development opportunities,” according to American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. BGU engineers and technology researchers will then access that information in order to match development opportunities with technical solutions.

Dr. Richard Azizkhan, the Lester W. Martin Chair of Pediatric Surgery at CCH, said current devices used to treat children “are actually miniaturized adult devices that do not sufficiently address the clinical needs of children.”