MDO editor’s picks: Three technical talks at DeviceTalks Minnesota

Three Minneapolis-area startups we’ve covered at Medical Design & Outsourcing will give technical talks at DeviceTalks Minnesota on May 4.

These three medical device innovators — Person Health (formerly Vocxi Health), Vail Scientific and Peytant Solutions — are developing small products that could have a big impact on patient care.

Person Health is using graphene for nanosensors that can detect signs of asymptomatic cancer with a noninvasive breath test. The startup is starting with lung cancer but has its sights set on other diseases, and CEO Ping Yeh will share more at DeviceTalks Minnesota.

“Our vision is to make the easiest and earliest detection platform that the world’s ever seen,” Yeh told us in an interview we published earlier this year.

Vail Scientific is going after another leading cause of death with its own handheld diagnostic breath test, which measures exhaled nitric oxide for faster, earlier diagnosis of sepsis. The startup partnered with the University of Minnesota on its feasibility trial and last year announced a miniaturized redesign of its point-of-care device.

“With sepsis, speed and accuracy can help save lives,” said Vail Scientific Chair, CEO and co-founder Tom Burke, who will present at DeviceTalks Minnesota.

And finally, for those of you hoping for an appearance by medtech’s most marvelous metal, Peytant Solutions co-founder, CEO, President and Chair John Schorgl will discuss his startup’s use of nitinol to make the first and only covered stent with a decellularized human amnionic membrane (DCAM).

MDO Nitinol Innovation Special Reports: Download our free special reports featuring nitinol expertise and tips from medical device OEMs and interviews with medtech experts developing nitinol-enabled pulsed-field ablation systems

Peytant Solutions won FDA de novo classification for the AMStent system last year, and Schorgl offered lessons from his team’s regulatory journey to help other innovative device developers. He chalked some of his startup’s success up to location, location, location.

“The Minneapolis–St. Paul region’s deep medtech expertise and collaborative culture gave us access to exceptional talent and experienced partners,” he said. “One investor even told us, ‘I invested in Peytant because you’re in Minneapolis.’”

Registration is open now for DeviceTalks Minnesota 2026 at the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis on May 4.