{"id":132977,"date":"2022-11-18T08:57:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T13:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=132977"},"modified":"2022-11-18T08:57:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T13:57:14","slug":"a-heartfelt-link-to-wright-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2022\/11\/18\/a-heartfelt-link-to-wright-state\/","title":{"rendered":"A heartfelt link to Wright State"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Klaus Weiswurm, who studied systems engineering at Wright State in the 1960s and \u201970s, helped develop breakthrough technology that keeps donor organs viable longer for transplant.<\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s get to the heart of the matter, literally. Klaus Weiswurm attended but didn\u2019t graduate from Wright State University.<\/p>\n

Yet he\u2019s making the university proud in part because of his breakthrough in keeping donor organs viable longer for transplant. The result promises to be a game-changer for those who need a new heart or other organs.<\/p>\n

Weiswurm is a member of the board of advisors for Vascular Perfusion.Solutions, a San Antonio, Texas, company that has developed a device called VP.S ENCORE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current method of care approved by the FDA,\u201d Weiswurm said, \u201cis to remove the heart or other organ and put it into a cooler with a bag of ice at the bottom and another bag of ice on top and go to the airport\u201d to get the organ to the recipient. \u201cWhen you put an organ on ice it starts to cause damage \u2014 the cells no longer get oxygen. The organ is just dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the medical field refers to the time \u2014 four to six hours \u2014 between when a heart is removed and placed in a patient as \u201cthe magic window.\u201d Weiswurm said this new device extends that window to 12 to 24 hours, as evidenced in ongoing pre-clinical animal trials leading up to hoped-for approval by the FDA.<\/p>\n

For how Weiswurm came to be where he is now, we go back to the days following World War II. His father was one of more than 1,500 German scientists who were brought to the United States in Operation Paperclip to advance the country\u2019s rocket and fledgling space programs. His father was in the group brought to what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 6 when I came over,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I ended up in Dayton.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1969 Weiswurm enrolled at Wright State in the systems engineering program<\/a>, which he said was \u201cpretty fabulous. I turned down a four-year scholarship to Ohio State. My family still lived in Dayton, so it was convenient for me to stay. Plus, I liked the connection to the military and the base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiswurm attended classes part-time because he worked full-time at Systems Research Labs. \u201cThe time there was a great training and proving ground for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His time at Wright State also was good because that\u2019s where he met the woman who is now his wife, Charla.<\/p>\n

Neither of them graduated from Wright State; in 1976 they left Dayton for San Antonio to buy the business they currently own. Weiswurm finished his degree work at what is now Texas State University.<\/p>\n

The business, originally known as Instruments Technology Machinery, was a small machine shop started by another Operation Paperclip scientist. Weiswurm slowly grew the business into one making specialized equipment for various industries.<\/p>\n

Because the business was close to a nationally recognized Army burn treatment center, he became interested in equipment used in the medical field. In this case, it was kidneys.<\/p>\n

He said burn patients often had problems with kidney failure. He worked with researchers on a way to \u201crestart\u201d a kidney, fueling his spirit in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the challenge of developing technology that hadn\u2019t been done before. My interest has been in doing something that nobody else had done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His solution was to make what he called tiny robots to open the tubules in the kidney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was making those micromanipulators, that\u2019s where my specialty was at the time,\u201d Weiswurm said.<\/p>\n

He continued his interest in developing equipment for medical problem-solving. His business, now called Innovation Technology Machinery, grew to now employ nearly 40, with his son as CEO and himself as chair.<\/p>\n

Weiswurm, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, then connected with Vascular Perfusion.Solutions and is championing its VP.S ENCORE. The key to this device is that a donor heart can be kept secure and filled with a liquid to keep the cells oxygenated, making it viable longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat expands the donor pool,\u201d Weiswurm said. \u201cThat heart from San Antonio doesn\u2019t have to go to a patient in San Antonio. That organ can go anywhere in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cENCORE is not in use, it\u2019s preparing to enter animal studies followed by first-in-human trials for the FDA early next year and a subsequent approval by 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

While busy with ENCORE and his life as an entrepreneur, Weiswurm made time to visit Wright State in July and September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have this fondness for Wright State. It\u2019s what started me on the path I\u2019m on,\u201d he said. \u201cThe engineering that I did there, the people I got to meet \u2014 there\u2019s a kinship. I believe my interest in mentorship started there at Wright State.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State started my journey into self-research and in wanting to solve problems,\u201d he added. \u201cJust because I didn\u2019t graduate from there doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t have a strong connection to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Klaus Weiswurm, who studied systems engineering at Wright State in the 1960s and \u201970s, helped develop breakthrough technology that keeps donor organs viable longer for transplant. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":132985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4266,743,725,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-biomedical-industrial-and-human-factors-engineering","category-engineering-computer-science","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132977"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132995,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132977\/revisions\/132995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}