A first-of-its-kind surgical simulation lab is now open in Overland.
Last Saturday, MaxFi cut the ribbon on what is billed as the world’s only medical training center that uses reanimated cadaver technology. MaxFi, which got its start in Columbia, Missouri, uses a proprietary perfusion system that makes cadavers bleed, breathe, and feel like live patients, as SLM writer Drew Gieseke reported last year. The simulations offer a big step forward for medical device development and for the training of surgeons and military doctors who tend to traumatic injuries—revolutionary work that will be done in the heart of the St. Louis region.
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MaxFi CEO Bob Mills says the lab’s location at 1918 Innerbelt Business Center was strategically chosen to put visitors and trainees close to the airport and within a short drive to hotels and restaurants in Clayton. “We’re right off 170 and Page, so it’s very convenient,” Mills says. “That’s why we took the space.”
The facility features a classroom in the front of the building for didactic training, changing rooms where physicians can step into their scrubs, and the lab itself, which resembles an operating room. “We’ve had it built out with the surgical equipment, lights, cabinets, and everything you need for simulating a procedure,” Mills says. “In the warehouse area, we build our pumps and reservoirs, and also prepare some of the tissue that we use during the procedure in the lab.”
Why It Matters: Mills says the lab has piqued the interest of industry partners, both domestically and abroad, who are eager to test and develop their products in St. Louis.
“We’ve had Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Cook Medical all come out and say, ‘This is phenomenal. We need an education center here in the Midwest,’” Mills says. “We fit that need for them. We’re really proud of the fact that we already did a product development lab with a company from Europe. They brought a team of people into St. Louis, and we spent Friday and Saturday working with them on a new heart device, and they couldn’t have been more pleased with the facility. They stayed in Clayton—it was convenient to the airport—they went to a ballgame, and saw the Arch. That’s our vision. This will be a jewel for people from around the country to come to.”
What’s Next: MaxFi continues to innovate on various simulation models, one of the newest of which is the envivoCor. Put simply: it brings a cadaver’s heart back online, mimicking the cardiac functions of a living person. “It’s an actual human heart that beats in a box,” Mills says. “It’s really incredible.” —Mike Miller
