University of Minnesota Foundation

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Spring 2025
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Innovators in action

Take a look inside the University of Minnesota’s Bakken Medical Devices Center, a bustling hub of lifesaving innovation, creation, and technology

By Justin Harris
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Spend just a few hours inside the bustling Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center and you’ll lose count of how many exclamations of excitement you hear.

“Wow!” 

“Amazing!” 

“How did you do that?!”

It’s no wonder that, well, wonder is the feeling of choice for the various students, research fellows, medical industry collaborators, engineers, and clinicians who step into this space on a given day. Named in honor of the pioneering engineer and pacemaker inventor, the University of Minnesota’s Bakken Medical Devices Center is a one-stop shop for enterprising minds to bring their brightest ideas to life.

The center is home to a tinkerer’s treasure trove of tools and expertise: 3D printers both big and small, a virtual reality suite, mechanical and electronic labs, and a wet lab.

Make a gift to support the Bakken Medical Devices Center.

“This is a place where people come together to create incredible, life-changing things,” says Hubert Lim, PhD, the director of the center and professor of biomedical engineering and otolaryngology at the U of M.

Take a look inside.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT STREBLE

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The Bakken Medical Devices Center has equipment to create 3D-printed models (like the heart that Hubert Lim, PhD, is holding, above) that allow medical students and physicians to view organs from all angles.
The center’s medical device design and prototyping specialists convert medical scans—like an MRI, for example—into 3D images that can then be printed on one of the center’s state-of-the-art 3D printers.
The center’s medical device design and prototyping specialists convert medical scans—like an MRI, for example—into 3D images that can then be printed on one of the center’s state-of-the-art 3D printers.
Virtual reality headsets allow students and clinicians to practice medical procedures.
Mechanical and electronic labs give engineers the space and supplies they need to create life-changing devices.
Mechanical and electronic labs give engineers the space and supplies they need to create life-changing devices.
Mechanical and electronic labs give engineers the space and supplies they need to create life-changing devices.
3D-printed anatomy can enable patient-specific presurgical practice.
3D-printed anatomy can enable patient-specific presurgical practice.

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