MSU picks up partner for JVIC research

MSU’s Board of Governors Friday approved an agreement between the school and St. John’s Health System that makes St. John’s a senior corporate affiliate with MSU’s Center for Applied Science and Engineering. The center is a primary piece of JVIC, a partnership between MSU and the city. The research facility is under construction at the site of the former MFA Mill, at Boonville and Phelps, and is scheduled to open in April.

As a corporate affiliate, St. John’s physicians will take part in research projects at JVIC, particularly those involving treatment strategies for wounded soldiers in the Middle East. Researchers will look at ways of alleviating pain from prosthetics and surgeries for eye injuries sustained from explosions.

“This new partnership will allow physicians who have ideas for medical devices, or even patents pending, to have access to researchers, scientists and engineers who can help with development,” said Dr. Shachar Tauber, a St. John’s ophthalmologist, in a news release.

Other corporate partners to be housed at JVIC include private nanotechnology companies Brewer Science, Crosslink Polymer Research, Nantero and Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. The facility also will be the home to MSU’s Center for Biomedical and Life Sciences.