The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and VentureWell are pleased to announce the winners of the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge. Fourteen winning projects and five honorable mentions won prizes totaling $190,000 for their solutions focused on addressing urgent challenges in health and clinical settings. Their novel innovations include a wearable system for at-home monitoring of vascular access health, a redesigned neonatal respiratory support device, and a wearable sensor that detects early postpartum hemorrhage.
The DEBUT Challenge, established by NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in 2011 and later joined by VentureWell and eight other NIH Institutes and Offices (ICOs), recognizes exceptional undergraduate innovation in biomedical design. NIH awards include three prizes and five honorable mentions with no topic restrictions, plus eight prizes for projects addressing the missions of sponsoring ICOs. VentureWell has supported the challenge for more than 10 years, recognizing teams through three awards: the Design Excellence Prize for excellence in engineering design, the Venture Prize for assessment of the commercialization landscape, and the Rising Star Prize for innovations from new or non-R1 biomedical engineering programs. These VentureWell prizes are aligned with our goals of empowering innovators and supporting ecosystems that solve pressing healthcare problems.
Now in its 15th 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, 119 applications were submitted from 64 colleges and universities in 25 states, engaging a total of 490 students.
The awards will be presented to the winning teams on October 23, 2026 at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society meeting in Orlando, Florida.
The Steven H. Krosnick Prize (First Place): $20,000
Funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
VASPatch—Continuous Vascular Access Surveillance for Hemodialysis Patients
University of Maryland-College Park
Team: Jeremy Yun, Caroline (CC) Colangelo, Ian Jackson, Mary Barsoum
Faculty Sponsor: Sahil Shah
Although vascular access—including arteriovenous (AV) fistulas and grafts—is essential for dialysis, failures frequently occur during the unmonitored 44-68 hour window between sessions, leading to significant patient morbidity and high healthcare costs. VASPatch is a non-invasive adhesive patch that continuously monitors hemodialysis patients with low-power embedded signal processing, reducing thrombosis-driven hospitalizations and central venous catheter dependence. The device transmits real-time data to a patient app and clinician dashboard which will enable proactive at-home monitoring, empowering clinicians to perform timely, elective interventions that maintain primary access patency and lower the financial and health burdens of end-stage renal disease.
Second Place Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Novel Neonatal Respiratory Support Interface
University of Rochester
Team: Julia Rothschild, Anika Sagar, Ryan Dugan, Nika Kazumyan
Faculty Sponsor: Scott Seidman
Each year, approximately 10% of infants born in the U.S. cannot breathe independently. Devices used to provide respiratory support to preterm babies often cause injuries, sometimes as extreme as permanent nasal deformity. The team’s Ledernosen prototype redesigns the commonly used Fisher & Paykel (F&P) bubble continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) interface to reduce pressure injuries and abrasions from ill-fitting apparatuses, enabling longer-term use and easier setup. The preliminary success of Ledernosen, demonstrated by airflow and contact pressure testing, indicates significant potential to reduce injury caused by respiratory support interfaces in life-saving NICU care.
Third Place Prize: $10,000
Funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
The Iris Retractor
Clemson University
Team: Caroline Broughton, Daphne Gomez Escudero, Amy Jordan, Cierra Knight
Faculty Sponsor: Vishal Thomas
The Iris Retractor is a novel, self-retaining vaginal retractor designed to improve surgical field exposure while reducing physical burdens on personnel during vaginal procedures. The modified retractor is a hands-free system meant to address traditional handheld limitations like obstructed views, clinician discomfort, and reliance on assistants. It also minimizes the constraints present in other self-retaining retractors by simplifying setup, lowering costs, and allowing for simultaneous blade adjustments. The Iris Retractor uses a camera iris–inspired camera mechanism to enable simultaneous circumferential retraction.
HIV/AIDS Prize: $15,000
Funded by the NIH Office of AIDS Research
Mission Remission—A Conditional siRNA Platform for Resistant NSCLC
Stanford University
Team: Julia Vu, Kevin Cordero, Samantha Ayala, Asmani Yamin
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ross Venook
While Osimertinib—an oral therapeutic—is the standard of care for Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)–mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), resistance emerges within a median of around 18 months. Existing therapies address resistance only after it develops and cannot distinguish mutant cells from wild-type cells at the molecular level. Mission Remission has developed a conditional small interfering RNA (cond-siRNA) system that selectively prevents Osimertinib resistance in EGFR-mutant NSCLC. Administered intravenously alongside existing Osimertinib regimens, Mission Remission’s approach requires no additional infusion visits and could benefit more than 100,000 EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients who relapse annually.
Healthcare Technologies for Low-Resource Settings Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Institute of Minority and Health Disparities
A Split-aptamer Fluorescent Biochip for Early Lung Cancer Stratification
Stanford University
Team: Spencer Cha, Vedant Chittake, Ethan Farah, Brian Lim, Vivian Tien
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ross Venook
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, accounting for nearly 125,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2025. Pulmonary nodules increasingly turn up incidentally in patients without traditional risk factors, yet current clinical and insurance guidelines designed for high-risk smokers often push these low-risk patients into repeated imaging, invasive biopsies, and surgical resection of nodules that prove benign. Tidal developed a blood test using a fluorescence split-aptamer assay that measures markers in the blood to help determine whether incidental nodules are benign or malignant. This platform has the potential to provide rapid, non-invasive nodule risk stratification that reduces unnecessary biopsies, expedites cancer diagnoses, and lowers costs.
Technologies for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis, or Treatment Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Cancer Institute
Endura’s Chiral Uteri for Inoperable Endometrial Cancer
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Team: Julia Sarrach, Caroline Dean, Joyce Kafi, Shlok Bhattad, Eeshan Khandelwal
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Rachael Schmedlen
Endura’s Chiral Uteri is an internal applicator designed to improve treatment of inoperable endometrial cancer. The device guides a radioactive source during high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatments. The design features longer, stacked radiation tubes that enable manual intrauterine rotation, and a novel locking mechanism that allows treatment geometry to be customized to a patient’s uterine anatomy. The Chiral Uteri is inserted as a single unit before the intrauterine tandems are manually rotated into the treatment position, maintaining radiation coverage while reducing operating room time, procedure complexity, physician fatigue, and risk of uterine injury.
Rehabilitative and Assistive Technologies Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Residual Limb Warmer for Winter Para-Athletes
University of Colorado Boulder
Team: Cassandra Eisen, Anna Sallee, Sara Wissner, Alyssa Radman, Nathaniel Day, David Debretsion, Matteo Coscia
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. James Long
Buffalo H.I.D.E. (Heated Integrated Device for Extremities) is a purpose-built residual limb warming system designed for prosthetic users participating in winter sports and outdoor activities. Designed to fit directly over a prosthetic socket, the device combines active heating, advanced insulation, waterproof protection, and one-handed operation into a single, integrated system. Developed in collaboration with para-bobsled and sled hockey athlete Daniel “Doc” Jacobs and Project S.E.R.V.E., the device addresses a uniquely vulnerable population of amputees who are susceptible to cold-related injury during extended outdoor exposure.
Technologies to Empower Nurses in Community Settings Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research
IV-Safe—An Innovative Medical Patch to Enable Timely Detection of Peripheral Intravenous Infiltration and Extravasation Events
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Team: Aditya Goparaju, Hesham Katabi, Sophie de Mello e Souza
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Gregory Valentine
Although peripheral intravenous (PIV) catheters are used in approximately 90% of hospitalized patients, failure rates remain high, particularly among pediatric and neonatal patients. Current detection for PIV failure relies primarily on periodic visual inspection. IV-Safe is a low-cost, non-electronic dressing designed to provide continuous visual monitoring of IV sites for signs of failure, including swelling or leakage around the insertion site. By providing an affordable monitoring solution, IV-Safe has the potential to reduce IV-related complications and improve clinical care, particularly in vulnerable populations such as neonates who cannot communicate discomfort.
Kidney Technology Development Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Automatic Hydration Assessment via Multiparametric Urinalysis in the Intensive Care Unit
Northwestern University
Team: Claudia Arriaga, Bhavi Barnwal, Hayeon Yun, Yiming Luo
Faculty Sponsor: David O’Neill
Current ICU equipment cannot accurately or continuously assess patient hydration. As a result, clinicians must determine hydration status from more than 10 health indicators, often acquired through invasive, resource-intensive methods, which are unreliable for critically ill patients. UroSense is an automatic multiparametric urinalysis device for ICU hydration assessment. UroSense is designed to easily integrate into existing ICU setups that use Foley catheters, enabling continuous monitoring without additional clinician burden.
Technologies To Improve the Health of Women Prize: $15,000
Funded by the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health
PPH EarlyAlert
University of Illinois at Chicago
Team: Vibhav Prabhakar, Iliya Rivkin, Aanya Roy
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Emily Dosmar
PPH EarlyAlert is a wrist-worn sensor that detects early postpartum hemorrhage before vital signs change, continuously monitoring peripheral perfusion index and displaying a real-time hemorrhagic risk score on a color LCD. The wearable detects vasoconstriction indicative of hemorrhage and alerts clinicians through a four-tier, color-coded system. This low-cost device requires no electronic medical record integration and works for vaginal and cesarean deliveries. With a 10-minute detection advantage over standard monitoring, PPH EarlyAlert is designed for hospital labor and delivery units, low-resource settings, and postpartum outpatient use.
Technologies to Foster Healthy Aging Prize: $15,000
Funded by the National Institute on Aging
GlauCO—A Palm-Press Eye Drop Applicator for Glaucoma Patients with Limited Hand Dexterity
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Team: Shahzad Sohail, Gonzalo Galvez, Cham Alawer, Sheridan Balthazar, Karisma Edouard, Nathan Madlambayan
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Melissa Wrobel
Open-angle glaucoma—the most common form of glaucoma—requires lifelong daily eye drops, but nearly 45% of patients can’t consistently self-administer them. Older adults who also have rheumatoid arthritis and are unable to squeeze bottles are particularly at risk. GlauCO is a low-cost, reusable, single-handed eye drop applicator that integrates with standard ophthalmic bottles without modification. The design reduces the eight-step process for administering drops to six, eliminating the steps most dependent on fine motor control and vision. GlauCO improves adherence, lowers waste, and restores independent treatment for patients who currently cannot reliably medicate themselves.
Venture Prize: $10,000
Funded by VentureWell
Axio Recovery—A Novel Elbow Torque Tracker to Assess UCL Stress
Cornell University
Team: Andrew D’Onofrio, Nathan Briard, Holbrook Langley, Bhumika Iroji, Connie Anagnos, Nitish Bhamidipati, Rawsen Weideman, Syon Khatter
Faculty Sponsor: James Antaki
Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries to the inner elbow represent a growing challenge in baseball. For Major League Baseball pitchers, returning to play after UCL reconstruction requires an average of just over 20 months, and despite lengthy rehabilitation timelines, quantitative monitoring remains largely confined to motion-capture laboratories and medical imaging facilities. Axio Recovery developed a wearable rehabilitation tool to estimate elbow torque throughout the return-to-throw process. The system uses a patient-specific Hill musculoskeletal model calibrated with individualized muscle activation and motion data, reducing reliance on generalized biomechanical models and laboratory-based motion capture.
Design Excellence Prize: $5,000
Funded by VentureWell
NeoFusion—A Fully Mechanical Syringe Pump for Low-Resource Settings
University of California-Irvine
Team: Christopher Tan, Sarah Liu, Keerthana Anand, Kevin Gurney, Aditi Ranabhor
Faculty Sponsors: Dr. Christine King, Dr. Elliot Botvinick
Every year, 2.3 million children around the world die within their first month of life. These often-preventable deaths mostly occur in low-resource settings without access to quality healthcare. Syringe pumps are essential to deliver precise dosages of medications, fluids, and nutrients to neonates and pediatric patients, but few infusion pumps on the market are built for low-resource settings. NeoFusion is a safe, adjustable, fully mechanical syringe pump that delivers the same level of precision and accuracy as electric syringe pumps. The device uses proprietary technology and is affordable, portable, intuitive, and easy to maintain and repair, delivering reliable care regardless of where a baby is born.
Rising Star Prize: $5,000
Funded by VentureWell
ClubFoot Instru-Sole
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Team: David Brokhin, Nora Gallion, Wilson Jimenez
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Michelle Rosen
Talipes equinovarus—commonly known as clubfoot—is often treated using the Ponseti method, which requires strict long-term use of a foot abduction brace. Outside of clinical settings, there is no quantitative way to confirm brace fit, measure applied forces, or distinguish normal infant discomfort from brace-related irritation. As a result, parents often remove braces too early. ClubFoot Instru-Sole is a low-profile, one-millimeter silicone insole with five force-sensing resistors that map pressure across the foot and measure how much corrective force is being applied at each point. The system detects changes in applied force and foot position, giving parents confidence in brace fit while improving compliance and reducing relapse risk.
Honorable Mention: $1,000
MOUSI—Medical Outflow Urinary System for Incontinence
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Team: Erika Hobson, Jasmine Pegues, Sydney Lowe, Stella Manges, Mujay Banya
Faculty Sponsor: Ashley Taylor, Christopher Arena
Current solutions for urinary incontinence (UI) in women do not prevent infection, can cause pressure injuries and discomfort, and are often used incorrectly. MOUSI is an improved urinary device that collects voided urine externally in female ICU patients, reducing discomfort, infection, and injury. With minimal urine leakage, pressure, and device displacement, MOUSI is a novel solution for UI management that protects patients while being easy to integrate into current ICU environments.
Honorable Mention: $1,000
abdOguide—Detachable Needle Guide for Use in Transabdominal Ultrasound Guided Oocyte Retrieval Procedures
University of Pittsburgh
Team: Ashlyn Odenwald, Colby Shores, Sydney Barber, Ishan Patel, Lyric Zimmermann
Faculty Sponsor: Mark Gartner
Transabdominal procedures are performed for patients who cannot undergo standard transvaginal egg retrieval. AbdOguide is a detachable needle guide accessory to help facilitate single-clinician transabdominal medical procedures, specifically in vitro fertilization (IVF) oocyte retrieval. The device features a long tunnel for improved needle control, an integrated funnel for seamless needle entry, stainless steel tubing to eliminate puncture risks, and a proprietary locking mechanism to keep the device fixed to the transducer throughout the procedure. This configuration eliminates the need for a two-operator technique while structurally supporting long retrieval needles against deflection during insertion, potentially redefining the standard of specialized IVF care.
Honorable Mention: $1,000
GJ-Stay—A Novel Solution to GJ-Tube Flipping
Columbia University
Team: Elia Ton-That, Rory Clare, Sofia Garcia, Xochitl Morales, Leyla Selman
Faculty Sponsor: Lauren Heckelman
Gastrojejunostomy (GJ) tubes—often used in patients with stroke or brain injury, dysphagia, and gastroparesis—are feeding tubes that enter through the skin of the abdomen into the stomach and extend to the small intestine. GJ tube flipping occurs when the tube curls back into the stomach, a complication that causes severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and feeding intolerance. GJ-Stay is a novel implantable assistive technology designed to prevent tube flipping by anchoring the tube in the jejunum. GJ-Stay integrates seamlessly into existing clinical workflows without requiring additional procedures. By improving tube retention and reducing feeding interruptions, emergency interventions, and caregiver burden, GJ-Stay has the potential to improve quality of life for thousands of patients who depend on long-term enteral nutrition.
Honorable Mention: $1,000
UVClean
Duke University
Team: Hannah Mekaru, Kunyu Du, James Mu, David Bearden
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Aaron Kyle
The “Scrub the Hub” protocol, a 30-second cleaning procedure for central line hubs, is frequently compromised by inconsistent technique, often driven by heavy nursing workloads. Consequently, central line-associated bloodstream infections remain a critical challenge in clinical settings, leading to high mortality rates and billions in annual healthcare costs. UVClean provides an automated method for disinfecting the catheter hub through a 15-second UVC disinfection cycle, and logs events into a companion dashboard. Studies have shown the device’s effectiveness in preventing catheter contamination.
Honorable Mention: $1,000
Remora
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
Team: Elise Park, Samuel Henshaw, Riya Soneji, Sharayu Senthilkumar, Krishna Srivasta
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Todd Sulcheck
Catheter exit-site infections affect millions of patients annually, and current management is reactive, with no continuous monitoring capability. Remora is a wearable smart patch system designed for catheter exit-site stabilization and early infection detection. Its disposable adhesive patch and detachable reusable sensor hub monitor temperature, moisture, bioelectrical impedance, and catheter displacement. An onboard algorithm flags deviations from each patient’s baseline and transmits alerts to the clinical team before symptoms become severe. Remora has the potential to reduce labor-intensive manual monitoring, prevent costly readmissions, and curb hospitalizations.