Minnetronix is launching MindsEye, the first expandable brain-access port for neurosurgery, through a partnership with Mizuho America. It is the first device that Minnetronix has brought to market on its own after 26 years as a contract service provider in the industry.

An analysis of acquisitions of privately held venture-backed medical device companies delivers some signs of hope as well as important warnings for medical device VCs hoping to find a lucrative exit in this difficult market.

Ascension Health Ventures, already the preeminent hospital-sponsored venture group, secured $200 million from its original sponsor, Ascension Health, as well as two other Catholic-based hospital systems.

While there, he found that when human bone marrow cells were treated in a unique way and implanted into an animal brain, the treated cells migrated throughout the brain and differentiated into human neurons. He also found that when these treated cells were implanted into a rodent eye with a damaged retina, the cells migrated to the area of damage and differentiated into new photoreceptor cells. Another discovery by Sugaya identified a small molecule that significantly increased the number of stem cells in the hippocampus and cortex of aged rats.