Innovation, influence and business in America's medical cities.

Microbiologics Inc. recently tapped Brad Goskowicz, the medical device sales and marketing veteran, to be its CEO. The company makes microorganisms used in quality control testing for several industries including medical and pharmaceutical. Oh, did I mention Goskowicz is a U.S. Speedskating Hall of Famer and the current president of the U.S. Speedskating Association?

While many college students hope to find a job with any company upon graduation these days, a second-year Case Western Reserve University medical student already has raised $100,000 for his own medical device startup.

In mid-May, Cameron Health Inc. struck media gold when the New York Times and the New England Journal of Medicine both gave prominent coverage to the company’s efforts to develop the medical device industry’s first subcantaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Not bad for a relatively unknown startup in San Clemente, California. But a week earlier, Cameron struck managerial gold when it hired Warren Watson.

Twin Star Medical is moving to the Excelen orthopedic and bone research center in downtown Minneapolis. The startup, currently based at the University Enterprise Laboratories in St. Paul, will lease a 4,000 square feet of space in the building located next to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), beginning in November.

“Did you watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked the mostly medical tech audience at a recent LifeScience Alley symposium on healthcare. “Did you see the 2,000 synchronized drummers?” I sure did. And like millions of other Americans, I thought: “Oh, crap. We’re in trouble.”

Pittsburgh’s ClearCount Medical Solutions has closed its Series B funding round with the hoped-for $5 million to drive market penetration and R&D for its systems that use radio-frequency identification technology to detect and count sponges used in operations.

In January, Gary Smith left the top spot at skin biopsy device company CleveX to join IR Diagnostyx, a Columbus-based blood diagnostics startup built on technology pioneered at Ohio State University.

Columbus-based skin biopsy device maker CleveX Inc. is seeking a $637,500 loan that it would use to purchase equipment and machinery to boost production capacity for its ExiClip line of devices. Youngstown-based Syncro Medical Innovations is looking for a $490,500 loan to protect intellectual property and acquire equipment and machinery.

Medical device companies probably aren’t feeling the love from Wall Street, these days. The last two medical device companies from Minnesota to go public priced their IPOs far below what they expected. The malaise is not limited to Minnesota.

It’s probably safe to assume that Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) won’t be championing states’ rights anytime soon.From product liability claims to doctor payment disclosures, the medical device maker based in Fridley, Minnesota, always has preferred a uniform federal standard — better than 50 different laws, the company likes to say.Yet there is one issue looming [...]