MindTrace was selected as one of just three companies to represent Pittsburgh's life sciences ecosystem at the Human Health Innovation Forum on March 30, 2026 featuring Pennsylvania Senator David McCormick and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya MD, PhD.
The event, held in Pittsburgh, highlighted the critical role the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program plays in bridging early-stage research and real-world clinical application. MindTrace was chosen to demonstrate how the region is turning federal investment into technologies that directly improve patient outcomes.
"Being selected to represent Pittsburgh's life sciences community at this event is a meaningful recognition of what our team is building," said Max Sims, CEO of MindTrace. "The SBIR program has been instrumental in helping us bring standardized brain mapping technology from the research lab into the operating room, and we're proud to show how federal investment is translating into real impact for neurosurgical patients."
MindTrace's R44 grant (award #1R44MH135726) from the NIH exemplifies the kind of innovation the program was designed to support. The SBIR program, administered across multiple federal agencies including the NIH, provides non-dilutive funding to small businesses engaged in research and development with strong commercial potential.
MindTrace is a medical device company spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, building the first software platform for standardized functional brain mapping across the neurosurgical care pathway. The platform enables clinical teams to objectively measure a patient's neurocognitive function — language, memory, motor skills — before, during, and after brain surgery, providing patient-specific evidence to support safer surgical decisions.
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