Our team at API has entered into a new partnership with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), combining our resources, expertise, and facilities, including NAIT’s Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation (CAMS), to enhance training and support in the Life Sciences ecosystem.
This builds on our longstanding relationship with NAIT, where we share students, facilities, and expertise for API projects. As a key partner for drug development, API will continue to offer regulatory expertise and capacity building for companies, projects, and innovators.
The new partnership will strengthen connections between industry experts and academia, upscaling program development and producing more qualified professionals. By fostering new business and networking opportunities, including student connections, we can engage other aligned agencies and institutions to solidify Edmonton’s leadership in the life sciences ecosystem.
We are thrilled to partner with API to provide enhanced support to health innovators, including entrepreneurs, startups, small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), and researchers. This collaboration leverages the advanced simulation capabilities at CAMS to offer crucial usability and validation studies, significantly reducing development costs and accelerating time-to-market. By combining our resources and expertise, we aim to drive health innovation and foster a vibrant life sciences ecosystem in Edmonton and beyond.
John Sutherland, Director, Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation at NAIT
With access to CAMS, we can expand our support for innovators who need resources to perform usability and validation studies in a simulated medical environment. This will reduce costs associated with real-world testing for life science entrepreneurs and accelerate product development cycles by mitigating risks early, as it did for Edmonton-based startup, Synapsis Medical Technologies.
Founded by Dr. Preetam Anbukarasu, Synapsis Medical Technologies focuses on developing advanced nanosensors and machine-learning algorithms for cardiovascular health monitoring and assessment. As a member of the Health Innovation Hub (HIH), managed by API, they receive comprehensive consulting support to build, test, validate, and grow their ventures. They utilized CAMS to test their devices and software application user interface to understand user preferences and pain points in health monitoring technologies.
CAMS enabled them to test their digital solutions systematically and comprehensively, providing substantial time with users to understand their needs and preferences. The simulation tools helped fine-tune their technology and iterate quickly, which played a pivotal role in their development processes. The feedback from simulation and user testing allowed them to identify specific features that resonated with core user groups, prioritizing the most valuable aspects. Engaging with CAMS significantly accelerated their design and development iterations.
CAMS has been instrumental in enabling us to develop and iterate on our technology at a rate we could not have achieved otherwise. The simulation tools, expertise, and access to users at CAMS enabled us to understand our market and develop our technology at a substantially faster rate
Dr. Preetam Anbukarasu, Synapsis Medical Technologies CEO
API and NAIT’s collaboration fosters innovation among smaller enterprises and promotes interdisciplinary efforts, driving sector-wide advancements and creating more opportunities to bring life-saving products to market.
This partnership will be a catalyst for growth for many upcoming life science innovators by providing access to simulation testing during their research and development phases. This collaboration between API and NAIT reduces barriers, allowing more entrepreneurs to conduct the necessary testing to fast track development with sights set on regulatory approval.
Dr. Truong Ta, VP of Commercialization & Partnerships at API