Every day, Merit Medical strives to understand physician needs and innovate and deliver high-quality medical devices that improve patient care.
Behind this important work is a team of innovators, employees who take our mission to the next level by inventing solutions to the toughest clinical challenges.
MEET RACHEL OBERG
Manager of R&D
10 years of innovation at Merit
What is the patent you hold at Merit?
I have many patents at Merit, primarily related to the WRAPSODY® Cell-Impermeable Endoprosthesis device and its unique tri-layered structure.
This includes rotational and electrospinning of fibers within these layers that are necessary for the product to function.
What patient population do your inventions benefit?
Most of my inventions, including my work on the WRAPSODY, focus on treating patients with vascular obstructions, or blockages, often the result of end stage kidney disease and its many related health conditions.
The WRAPSODY, in particular, is a self-expanding stent placed in a patient’s vessel to help open it and maintain the blood flow needed for hemodialysis treatment.
What was the inspiration for this product?
As said, WRAPSODY has three layers. For one of these layers, we wanted to find a new way to manufacture PTFE (a non-stick coating used in several industries) that would be biocompatible, in other words, safe to use within the body.
What makes this product special?
Our exploration for a biocompatible PTFE led to our team developing a new method of creating it, specifically for medical device coatings. It is biocompatible, thrombus (blood clot) resistant, and is designed to reduce inflammation.
Both thrombus and inflammation can contribute to obstruction of blood flow in a dialysis stent and thereby result in inadequate treatment, so the PTFE layer we developed for the WRAPSODY could help patients undergoing this type of care.
What was your biggest challenge when inventing this product, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to achieve concentrations in the right amounts to create the product—and then repeat it.
It required a lot of trial and error as well as documenting what worked and what didn’t. As they say, “If you write it down, it’s science. Everything else is just messing around.”
As an inventor, who is your role model and why?
John Hall, Merit Executive VP of Advanced Materials Technologies, and Wayne Mower, Merit VP of Research and Development are my role models.
They taught me everything I know and let me experiment in the lab for several years, trying to figure out this puzzle of a product. Their support led me to discovering solutions that deliver better dialysis care for patients, and for that I’m grateful.