2012 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge Winners

NIBIB congratulates the winners of the 2012 DEBUT Challenge!

Category: Diagnostic Devices/Methods, winning $10,000

Q-Path: A Flow-Through High-Throughput Quantitative Histology Platform, University of California Los Angeles Armin Arshi, David Kuo, Robert Lee, Elizabeth Ng, and Andrew Tan

The fourth most common and ninth most deadly form of cancer in men is bladder cancer, transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). The Q-Path team developed a high-throughput, flow-through microfluidic platform combined with automated image analysis software, which allows for systematic screening of patients’ urine samples in order to noninvasively diagnose TCC. The system provides the pathologist with a quantitative analysis of the sample and an index to differentiate between healthy, low-grade malignancy, and high-grade malignancy. The device has the potential to be applied to a broader range of bodily fluid samples, including blood and pleural fluids; hence it could play a key role in the early diagnosis of various types of cancers.

Q-Path high-throughput platform design and implementation (A) Concentrated cell suspensions were stained to selectively label nuclei and (B) fed into an inertially focusing microfluidic chip and imaged using high-speed color microscopy. (C) Inside the channel, cells are subject to a size-dependent shear gradient lift force (F_LS) due to laminar fluid flow and an opposing wall effect lift force (F_LW) due to the channel wall. Cells adopt equilibrium positions (X_eq) according to size at outlet where they are rapidly imaged.

Category: Therapeutic Devices/Methods, winning $10,000

Quick-Stitch – Surgical Suturing Device to Improve Fascia Closure, Johns Hopkins University Anvesh Annadanam, Luis Herrera, Haley Huang, Leslie Myint, Daniel Peng, Andyg Tu, Stephen Van Kooten, Sohail Zahid

Quick-Stitch is an inexpensive, disposable suturing tool for gastrointestinal surgery that improves safety, efficiency, and consistency in stitching fascia (a collagenous layer underneath the skin that wraps around the internal organs to keep them from pressing against the skin layer). The device aims to improve surgeon performance and patient outcomes by regulating stitch placement and tension, thus helping to avoid the problems of hernias and ischemia that can result from improper stitching after gastrointestinal surgery.

Category: Technology to Aid Underserved Populations and Individuals with Disabilities, winning $10,000

Low-Cost Spirometer, Washington University in St. Louis Andrew Brimer, Abigail Cohen, Olga Neyman, Charles Yong-Chao Wu, Braden Eliason

There is a lack of devices to measure lung function for the diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases in the developing world. Traditional spirometers cost in the range of $1,000-$2,000. The Low-Cost Spirometer team developed a fluidic oscillating spirometer costing under $10 without compromising accuracy or precision with respiratory diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) on the rise, the durable, low-cost spirometer could improve healthcare in the developing, as well as the developed world.

Low-Cost Spirometer

Honorable Mentions

Category of Diagnostic Devices/Methods
Immunofluidics - Rapid Tissue Typing Diagnostic Chip, University of California Irvine: Philip Chao, Jay LePere, Daniel Lorey, Brandon Wong, Irfanali Kermalli
D1GIT: Automated, Temperature-calibrated Measurement of Capillary Refill Time, University of Pennsylvania: Craig McDonald, Anat Bordoley, Rikki Irwin, Viraj Kalyani, Dorsey Standish

Category of Therapeutic Devices/Methods
InjectAlign, University of Pennsylvania: Mahesh Murali, Gabriel Seidner, Michelle Bubear
Shoulder Dislocation Simulator, Northwestern University: Jin Tao, Sabeen Admani, Faraz Admani

Category of Technology to Aid Underserved Populations and Individuals with Disabilities
Babalung: A Neonatal Apnea Monitor for the Developing World, Rice University: Jordan Schermerhorn, Rachel Alexander, Rachel Gilbert, Bridget Ugoh, Andrea Ulrich
Design Of An Eye Tracking System Enabling Communication For TBI And SCI Patients, University of Denver: Peter Neilson, Jeff Evans, Jordan Rath, John De Witt

Full project descriptions and videos (if provided) can be viewed at DEBUT.Challenge.gov

NIH DEBUT Press Release

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