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UNO Researchers Receive Award from UNeMed During Innovation Week

The award recognized work on a groundbreaking invention as a promising solution to vascular stents in the legs, which are notoriously difficult to successfully implant in delicate leg vessels.

Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D., professor and chair of biomechanics at UNO, accepts the award for Most Promising New Invention from Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNeMed, on behalf of the research team behind the optimized vascular stent.

Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D., professor and chair of biomechanics at UNO, accepts the award for Most Promising New Invention from Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNeMed, on behalf of the research team behind the optimized vascular stent.

UNeMed's annual Innovation Week concluded Thursday, Nov. 2, with its Research Innovation Awards ceremony.

The event featured remarks from UNMC Vice Chancellor for Research Ken Bayles, PhD, before UNeMed CEO and President Michael Dixon, PhD, delivered a short presentation in review of the previous fiscal year.
The awards ceremony recognized all UNMC and UNO inventors who contributed to a new invention disclosure, had a U.S. patent issued, or had a technology licensed.

UNeMed presented the Most Promising New Invention of 2023 award to a collaborative team of UNO and UNMC innovators.

The team included three researchers from UNO's Department of Biomechanics—Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D.; Anastasia Desytova, Ph.D.; and Ali Akbar Ahmadi—teamed with UNMC surgeon, Jason MacTaggart, M.D., to create the "Optimized Vascular Stent."

The invention is a promising solution to vascular stents in the legs, which are notoriously difficult to successfully implant because leg vessels are delicate. The repeated bending of the leg can damage the vessel, stent or both. The inventors are working on prototypes that can balance improved durability while avoiding increasing the risk of damaging the femoropopliteal artery in the legs.

More information about Innovation Week and the Innovation Awards ceremony, including its history and awardees, can be found at unemed.com/innovation-week.

UNeMed Corporation is the technology transfer and commercialization office (TTO) for the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. UNeMed serves all UNMC & UNO researchers, faculty and staff who develop new biomedical technology and inventions, and strives to help bring those innovations to the marketplace.