Two Edmonton-based startups selected by NASA to showcase their space-ready innovations – Edmonton Journal

Dr. Jayan Nagendran, co-founder and chief medical officer of Tevosol, at the Mazankowski Heart Institute with an organ perfusion machine prototype on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020.Shaughn Butts / Postmedia

Two Edmonton-based tech companies are hoping to prove their inventions are out of this world and ready for lift-off into space with NASA.

Local startups Tevosol and ez enRoute were shortlisted by the space technology giant in an international search to find the next great innovation to make life easier in space. They will pitch their ideas at NASA iTechs Ignite the Night event on Feb. 11, the only two Canadian companies selected, for a shot at advancing to a final round of competition in May.

Neither Edmonton-made company started with a quest to travel outside Earth. Rather, both were founded off issues and needs that kept appearing in day-to-day life.

For Dr. Jayan Nagendran, the surgical director of lung transplantation at the University of Alberta Hospital, Tevosol was formed in an effort to increase the number of successful organ donations by providing a lifelike machine to store the organs in an environment as if they were still inside a human, as they are being transported for transplantation.

More than three-quarters of organs that get offered arent being utilized for transplantation despite having large waitlists, said Nagendran, co-founder and chief medical officer of Tevosol. The goal was to develop medical devices to replicate a normal environment for the organ, like a robot chest for the organ.

The company was formed in 2015 out of a garage before finding a home with TEC Edmonton.

Starting with lungs and then finding solutions for hearts, livers, kidneys and limbs, Tevosol has created a portable warm perfusion machine about the size of an ice cooler that has completed a successful clinical trial with plans to pilot commercially in Canada toward the end of 2020.

But its not an organ shortage in outer space prompting Tevosol to pitch its device to NASA. Areas of their research, such as on hibernation and radiation, can be of use in space, Nagendran said.

Space scientists are studying the idea of hibernation for astronauts during deep space travel and Tevosols research for long-term hibernation of organs could be a way forward. Astronauts are also exposed to high levels of radiation and the technology can be used to store limbs or live tissue.

This opportunity for a company like us being based out of Edmonton is significant, said Nagendran, with Tevosol also now having opened an office in Houston, Texas. The exposure itself is really the victory at this point.

Similar to Tevosol, ez enRoute was created by Edmontonian Amit Anand trying to solve an issue he noticed around safety. Using his technology background, he began developing an autonomous security platform that can track movement or incidents such as falling without GPS or Internet.

The International Space Station is growing massively with tons of equipment. This can help access equipment faster and all asset monitoring in outer space, he said.

Anand said they were supported by Edmonton company Aris MD in pitching their idea to NASA and hope to experience the same success Aris MD won the top overall prize last year.

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Two Edmonton-based startups selected by NASA to showcase their space-ready innovations - Edmonton Journal