The National Institutes of Health and the nonprofit higher education organization VentureWell have selected 10 winners and five honorable mentions from the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge, who will receive awards totaling $145,000. Awards will be presented to the winning teams during the Biomedical Engineering Society’s annual conference, October 11-14, 2023.
Now in its twelfth year, the DEBUT Challenge convenes teams of university students to produce technological solutions for a broad spectrum of unmet health needs.
In addition to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell, five NIH institutes, centers, and offices supported the challenge this year, specifically the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).
“This year, the DEBUT Challenge set a new participation record with the largest number of participants we have ever seen,” said Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., director of NIBIB. “DEBUT students and mentors are working on many of the world’s most pressing healthcare challenges, with award-winning teams recognized for their exceptional ingenuity on a variety of topics, including key advances in the rapidly growing area of women’s health technology.”
Among the designs of the three teams that received NIBIB-sponsored awards were a device that could significantly reduce the financial barrier to epinephrine injections, a vaginal speculum that provides greater comfort and functionality, and a tool that streamlines the process of MRI-guided breast biopsy.
Other winners include recipients of the NCI-sponsored award, who developed a new vaginal dilator aimed at offering an affordable, painless therapy for vaginal stenosis, a potentially painful side effect of radiation therapy for cancer.
“NCI is proud to encourage the development of innovative therapies designed to improve cancer care,” said Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, director of NCI. “Rewarding the development of innovative solutions by university scientists through the DEBUT Challenge will help deliver the latest in cancer innovations to patients and communities, one of the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Cancer Moonshot.YE.”
To identify the award winners, NIH experts evaluated submissions from 100 teams, comprised of 446 students from 52 universities, in 26 U.S. states and Washington, DC.
The 10 winning projects are:
NIBIB “Steven H. Krosnick” First Prize ($20,000): EpicPen, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
EpicPen is a novel and affordable epinephrine autoinjector, a type of life-saving portable device used to treat anaphylactic reactions. Unlike other injectors, this device features a spring-loaded injection mechanism that allows the injector to be reused, significantly reducing the current high cost of multiple injections.
NIBIB Second Prize ($15,000): Feminora, University of California-Irvine
Feminora’s OneSpec is a vaginal speculum that improves on the traditional duckbill design, which can cause pain by pinching vaginal tissue and can also obstruct the doctor’s line of sight during pelvic exams. The new device applies even pressure along the vaginal walls while giving examining doctors a clear view.
NIBIB Third Prize ($10,000): Breast MRI Biopsy Immobilization and Positioning Device, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This new device improves both the effectiveness of MRI-guided biopsies and patient comfort by positioning and immobilizing breasts of different sizes and shapes more effectively than the device currently used.
NIH OAR HIV/AIDS Award ($15,000): FADpad, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
The Filtered Adhesive Diagnostic Pad, or FADpad, is a multi-layered menstrual pad add-on that can be placed on any pad to collect menstrual blood samples. The user can store and send the sample to a laboratory to be tested for human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, a cancer that is also closely related to HIV.
NIMHD Healthcare Technologies Award for Low-Resource Settings ($15,000): DioTeX, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
The DioTeX prototype is a portable rapid diagnostic assay that can detect blood biomarkers of trauma-induced hemorrhage to improve the evaluation and treatment of internal trauma. This testing device requires minimal training, making it easy to use in rural and low-resource settings.
NCI Award for Technologies for the Prevention, Diagnosis, or Treatment of Cancer ($15,000): MiaFit, University of California-San Diego
MiaFit is a low-cost expandable vaginal dilator designed to comfortably treat vaginal stenosis, a narrowing and shortening of the vagina that can cause significant pain and discomfort.
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, NICHD Assistive and Rehabilitative Technologies Award ($15,000): Adjustable Prosthetic Socket, University of California-San Diego
A new adjustable prosthetic socket is designed to adapt to daily volume changes in amputees’ residual limbs using force-sensing elements and air bladders, avoiding complications associated with a poor fit, such as sores and skin irritation.
NINR Technologies to Empowering Nurses in Community Settings Award ($15,000): U-Sert, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina
The U-Sert is a urinalysis insert that adheres to the inside of infants’ diapers to collect and analyze samples for urinary tract infections, providing a streamlined solution compared to current collection and diagnostic methods.
VentureWell Venture Award ($15,000): SteadyScrib, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
The SteadyScrib pen set consists of a pen and clipboard designed to counteract the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease that inhibit writing thanks to its wide grip, the magnetic attraction between the pen and the board, and its heavy core.
VentureWell Design Excellence Award ($5,000): SpasTECH, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark
The SpasTECH Spastic Arm Simulator is a 3D-printed mechanical arm that can mimic the movements associated with spasticity, a neuromuscular condition, and potentially serve as a teaching tool for clinicians to improve the reliability and objectivity of spasticity assessments.
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About the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB): NIBIB’s mission is to design the future of health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating engineering and physical sciences with biology and medicine to advance our understanding of diseases and their prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment. NIBIB supports research and development of emerging technologies within its internal laboratories and through grants, collaborations and training. More information is available on the NIBIB website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): The National Institutes of Health, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NIH is the primary federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures of common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov.
