The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and VentureWell are pleased to announce the winners of the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge! Eleven winning projects and five honorable mentions won prizes totaling $160,000 for their solutions focused on improving real-world problems in healthcare by addressing pressing health and clinical challenges. Their transformative innovations include an infusion pump mobile app for nurses working in intensive care units to monitor patient information in real time, and a low-cost prosthetic that generates assistive power at the knee joint for improved mobility in individuals with amputations.
Now in its 13th year, the DEBUT Challenge calls on teams of undergraduate students to produce technological solutions to a broad spectrum of unmet health needs. Submissions were selected based on a demonstrated mastery of analytical and design skills and capabilities, the ability to manage the product development process, the ability to work effectively in teams, and technical communication skills. This year, 85 applications were submitted from 48 colleges and universities in 24 states, engaging a total of 362 students.
The DEBUT Challenge, managed by NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell, historically recognizes exceptional undergraduate innovation in biomedical design. VentureWell has supported the challenge for the past nine years and rewards teams that have demonstrated excellence in engineering design (Design Excellence Prize) and assessment of the commercialization landscape (Venture Prize). These VentureWell prizes are aligned with VentureWell’s goals of empowering innovators and supporting ecosystems that solve pressing healthcare problems.
The awards will be presented to the winning teams during the annual Biomedical Engineering Society conference, October 23-26 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Steven H. Krosnick Prize (First Place): $20,000
UroFlo: An Automated and Intuitive UTI and Blood Clot Prevention Device
Rice University
Continuous bladder irrigation is a common post-operative treatment for hematuria—the presence of blood in urine—but it lacks a standardized method for assessing severity, requiring manual adjustments that lead to inconsistent treatment. UroFlo has developed a spectral sensor that quantifies the severity of hematuria, adjusts inflow rate automatically, and quantifies waste bag outflow rate, utilizing a remote notification system that alerts clinicians of issues to ensure patient safety.
Team Captain: Anushka Agrawal
Team Members: Archit Chabbi, Richard Chan, Robert Heeter, Kevin Li, Sahana Prasanna
Faculty Sponsor: Sabia Abidi
Second Place Prize: $15,000
OCTAVE: Optical Coherence Tomography and Vibrometry Endoscope
University of California-Riverside
Radiologists experience difficulties when imaging the middle ear due to the abundance of anatomical structures inside, and high-resolution computed tomography is necessary to detect hearing loss. OCTAVE has developed a non-invasive imaging technique using light to provide real-time, high-resolution images to reveal specific sites of damage to the tympanic membrane. This allows for accurate imaging of the middle ear structures.
Team Captain: Christopher Clark
Team Members: Sofia Gandarilla, Minh Huy Tran, Briana Marquezz, Alexis Valencia
Faculty Sponsor: Robert McKee
Third Place Prize: $10,000
Cesarean Delivery Glove
Northwestern University
Obstetricians performing a cesarean section can face a complication where the baby’s head is impacted in the pelvis, resulting in difficult delivery. This condition poses severe risks to both the parent and the child, particularly in low-resource settings where advanced equipment is scarce. The Cesarean Delivery Glove is a cost-effective, reusable device that includes a frame and glove to extend the obstetrician’s reach with a sling, evenly distributing force around the baby’s head to safely and effectively extract the baby during the procedure.
Team Captain: Gabriella Desch-Obi
Team Members: Alexis Chan, Priya Dave, Aiden Smires
Faculty Sponsor: David O’Neill
Healthcare Technologies for Low-Resource Settings Prize: $15,000, with funds from the National Institute of Minority and Health Disparities
NanoLIST
Cornell University
An estimated 815 million children worldwide have elevated blood lead levels. This concentration is too low to trigger spontaneous symptoms, making it difficult to identify lead exposure in its early stages, but long-term exposure can result in damage to development of the brain, nervous system, heart, liver, and kidneys—meaning early detection is key. NanoLIST has developed a rapid, self-contained, low-cost test kit that utilizes the formation and reduction of gold nanoparticles to detect elevated lead concentrations from saliva samples within 30 seconds, helping to detect elevated blood lead levels earlier than with typical tests.
Team Captain: Ruchira Hariharan
Team Members: Ariella Avigad, Francesca Azzarito, Viviana Esquivel, Sophia Hertel, Nathan Palamuttam, Kendal Phinney, Aiko Shibata
Faculty Sponsor: James Antaki
HIV/AIDS Prize: $15,000, with funds from the NIH Office of AIDS Research
Infusion Pump Mobile Application
Loyola University Chicago
Infusion pumps are a necessary tool for nurses working in intensive care units (ICU); however, they require constant monitoring and can experience software errors such as alarm failure, interface issues, and mechanical malfunctions. The Infusion Pump Mobile Application is a user-friendly mobile application that provides a comprehensive view of patient information, including real-time progress monitoring, alert and alarm notifications, and direct medication order transmission, streamlining the efficiency of infusion pumps and minimizing errors.
Team Captain: Leah Smith
Team Members: Lauren David, Dhruv Patel, Esther Wayntraub, Zhiyin Wu
Faculty Sponsor: Gail Baura
Rehabilitative and Assistive Technologies Prize: $15,000, with funds from the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
U-Build Bionic Knee: Transfemoral Powered Prosthetic
University of Utah
Lower-limb amputation (LLA) can significantly impair an individual’s mobility and quality of life. Due to the high financial burden and limitations of passive prostheses, individuals with amputations can experience reduced overall health. The U-Build Bionic Knee is a low-cost prosthesis designed to improve mobility and quality of life for individuals with lower-extremity amputation. The device generates assistive power at the knee joint, enabling ambulation on level ground and uneven terrain, as well as positive-power activities like sit-to-stand and stair ascent.
Team Captain: Duncan Stewart-Jackson
Team Members: Elise Nielsen, Eleanor Stevens
Faculty Sponsor: Tommaso Lenzi
Technologies for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis, or Treatment Prize: $15,000, with funds from the National Cancer Institute
ColoTech: A ‘Pro-Diagnostic’ for the Early Detection of Colorectal Dysplastic and Cancerous Tissue
Stanford University
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., leading to over 50,000 deaths annually. Effective screening for CRC is crucial, as survival rates increase with early detection. ColoTech is a highly sensitive diagnostic tool: The patient ingests a probe that changes chemical composition when in contact with dysplastic or cancerous tissue. This chemical change shows in a molecular report on colorectal tract health within stool samples. This approach offers a more cost-effective, accessible solution for early dysplasia detection than typical methods, potentially saving lives and reducing CRC-related healthcare costs.
Team Captain: Gabriel Seir
Team Members: Shreya Garg, Kelly Lopez-Cid
Faculty Sponsor: Ross Venook
Technologies To Empower Nurses in Community Settings Prize: $15,000
IV Pole Redesign
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Intravenous (IV) poles are a staple of healthcare operations, but their design includes weak components and elements that can cause injuries, and they are difficult to navigate through doorways. IV Pole Redesign features a tiered and angled hook rake top, an offset pole portion, a spider base, a line organizer, and wheels that improve mobility across threshold transitions, enabling the pole to spin fewer than 105 degrees to ensure safe, effective control over its movement.
Team Captain: Sarah Scheerer
Team Members: Douglas Argueta, Devin Donnelly, Megan Gulian, Utsav Shah
Faculty Sponsor: Christopher Arena
Kidney Technology Development Prize: $15,000
NephroGuard
Clemson University
Acute kidney injury is a common complication after cardiac surgery that can have adverse effects on patients and their health. The current diagnostic method for acute kidney injury takes several days from the onset of injury. NephroGuard is a real-time diagnostic device that uses an electrochemical sensor to detect a kidney injury biomarker within hours. This faster diagnosis gives physicians more time to treat the underlying cause of the kidney injury, reducing the risk of permanent kidney injury for patients.
Team Captain: Aaron Spearman
Team Members: Omar Aguilar, Alexander Bowie, Calvin Chernyatinskiy, Nicholas Stiebler
Faculty Sponsor: John DesJardins
Venture Prize: $15,000, funded by VentureWell
Knee-sy Does It: Your Therapy Automation Solution
Stevens Institute of Technology
Small, targeted stretches known as Maitland mobilizations are a critical step in the recovery process for knee surgery and osteoarthritis, but patients often have trouble correctly performing these techniques at home. Knee-sy Does It is a novel device that administers dynamic and static stretches that simulate physical therapy treatment, empowering patients to effectively replicate traditionally in-clinic care at home.
Team Captain: Brandon Sems
Team Members: Jalen Bailey, Grace Fukazawa, Margaret Gibson
Faculty Sponsor: Peter Popolo
Design Excellence Prize: $5,000, funded by VentureWell
Malleous: Increasing Efficiency in the Operating Room
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
When doctors switch tools during surgery, they lose time during a highly time-sensitive process. Malleous is a device that combines suction and ribbon retraction operating tools while maintaining the tools’ malleable and bendable properties. This design increases efficiency and effectiveness for surgeons, while reducing the risk of potential complications.
Team Captain: Ben Leslie
Team Members: Amna Imran, Rohit Mantena
Faculty Sponsor: Harvey Borovetz
Honorable Mention: $1,000
Bloom Speculum
Clemson University
A high level of visibility is necessary for gynecological procedures, such as loop electrosurgical excision procedures (LEEP), which are performed to remove precancerous lesions from the cervix before they develop into cervical cancer. The Bloom Speculum is a four-blade extendable vaginal speculum with an ergonomic handle designed to improve clinician comfort and a smoke evacuation tube to further improve visualization of the cervix during LEEP.
Team Captain: Vaishnavi Kanduri
Team Members: Angeline Chen, Karen De Guzman, Elizabeth Dods
Faculty Sponsor: John DesJardins
Honorable Mention: $1,000
CERV: Cervical Dilation Monitor
Washington University in St. Louis
During labor, cervical dilation is measured by clinicians inserting their fingers into the cervical opening to estimate its diameter. This method is subjective, often inaccurate, and uncomfortable for the patient, and it increases the risk of infection for both the fetus and the patient. CERV (Cervical Dilation Monitor) is an endoscope that is held in the vaginal canal by a silicone cup throughout labor. The endoscope transmits images of the cervix to a microcontroller that computes and displays the dilation measurement. This approach offers a 91% accuracy rate and ensures a higher degree of patient comfort.
Team Captain: Elizabeth Buzbee
Team Members: Annika Avula, Sandy Montgomery
Faculty Sponsor: Christine O’Brien
Honorable Mention: $1,000
Endovascular Blood Clot Removal Device With a Non-Driven Tip
University of California San Diego
During dialysis, the tip of the blood clot removal device sometimes breaks off, increasing health risks like blockage of blood flow, fever, or infection, and decreasing the effectiveness of the procedure. This team has developed a device with a molded silicone tip attached to a memory shape wire with bearings or brushes attached, preventing breakage and allowing for more effective blood clot removal.
Team Captain: Nianza Delfin
Team Members: Michael Casares, Angel Castellanos, Javier Guerrero, Kayla Tracy
Faculty Sponsor: Nathan Delson
Honorable Mention: $1,000
OcuSound: Accessible Glaucoma Monitoring with Acoustic Tonometry
Johns Hopkins University
Glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness, disproportionately affects the Global South. Symptom progression is often unnoticeable, making it difficult to determine what stage glaucoma has reached, especially with a lack of access to care. The primary measurement of monitoring glaucoma progression is intraocular pressure (IOP), which means that patients are reliant on periodic ophthalmologist visits. OcuSound is an accurate, noninvasive tonometer that uses sound waves and the acoustic properties of the eye for self-monitoring of IOP, giving patients the ability to track their glaucoma at home and at a low cost.
Team Captain: Valerie Wong
Team Members: Maria Giannakopoulos, Alex Kroumov, Hyun Seo Lee, Elliott Leow, Benjamin Miller, Ashish Nalla, Nancy Yan
Faculty Sponsor: Kunal Parikh
Honorable Mention: $1,000
Ostomeasure
Purdue University
In the U.S., there are upwards of a million individuals currently living with a stoma, or a surgically created opening in the body that redirects the intestinal tract, and up to 75% of ostomy patients experience peristomal skin irritation. Leakage of the stoma is a leading cause of such irritation, and is often attributed to ill-fitting appliances. Ostomeasure is a device that can accurately measure the diameter of a stoma using a one-sided guard and cut an appropriately sized hole in the ostomy bag with one integrated tool, increasing accuracy to mitigate leakage and improve patient quality of life.
Team Captain: Sathveka Sembian
Team Members: Nicholas Buffo, Maya Federle, Nikita Rao, Diya Sakhrani
Faculty Sponsor: Asem Aboelzahab