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Engine of InnovationASAIO is receptive to new disciplines, procedures, ideas and concepts that contribute to a common goal of substituting or regenerating natural organ function. Inviting uncertainty and promoting an open exchange of ideas remain hallmarks of the group. Young and senior investigators are encouraged to present new innovations that may portend future medical technologies that disrupt and displace the clinical practices of today. The Society was and is an engine for encouraging innovation in medical and biological technologies.
Over the last 54 years, many innovations of medicine had their origins in the kaleidoscope of ASAIO Annual Conferences. Gibbons discussing the heart-lung machine, Kolff and the artificial kidney, Kolobow and oxygen diffusion through plastic films, Hufnagel and aortic valvular replacement are early examples of innovations that found a receptive ASAIO audience to consider the benefits and weaknesses of these nascent technologies. The implantable, self contained pacemaker, cardiopulmonary support for infants, ventricular assist devices, the bioartificial pancreas, the biohybrid liver, macromolecule removal from blood, and implantable defibrillator are other innovations that surfaced at ASAIO and are now common in medicine.
Acute and chronic organ failure continues to be the largest consumer of healthcare resources. While there is considerable promise in today’s medical research programs, there is no existing coherent hypothesis for preventing these clinical conditions. It seems clear that for the foreseeable future, continual “innovation” is essential to creating strategies that will restore organ function and quality of life beyond the outcomes that patients presently experience. ASAIO is the innovative gathering environment for those who want to create these strategies at the interfaces of medicine, biology, science, and engineering.
There are no limits, but we all need colleagues to help us think through our ideas and dreams. New concepts need airing and constructive criticism with new and established investigators in public forums. ASAIO is the place to test novel ideas while still in the earliest stages of laboratory and clinical experience. It is one of the major engines for creating the future of organ technologies.
What will the future look-like? Our tool-box is full of wonderful new tools such as nanotechnologies and a storehouse of biological mechanisms. It is likely we can create the future of organ technologies by regenerating physiological function using natural and synthetic materials. With nano-science, chemistry, and biology active on the same scale, they can be combined to create tissue properties for meeting any clinical need. Where will these wonderful tools be amalgamated into sketchy visions of future medical and biological innovations? Most likely these visions will be seen in the ASAIO forums and hallways and heard among the networks and friendships of ASAIO members. Engine of Innovation
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