In a tour de force, four undergraduate bioengineering design teams received honors in the 2018 VentureWell and National Institutes of Health “Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams” (DEBUT) competition. Partnering with national and international clinical and industry collaborators, Clemson’s bioengineering design programs develop innovative solutions in healthcare. Jenny Bourne, editor
2018 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge Winners
Clemson Bioengineering fielded seven design teams in this year’s national design competition hosted by NIH and Venturewell. Now in its 10th year, the NIH-Venturewell prizes are considered the top achievement by undergraduate biomedical design teams. Entries were judged on significance of the problem being addressed, impact on potential users and clinical care, innovative design, prototype, market potential and economic feasibility and patentability.
Clemson bioengineering design teams have been recognized with awards or honorable mentions in this competition for five of the last six years, winning 1st place in 2013.
“We are very proud of the 2018 design class,” said Dr. John DesJardins, instructor and director of the undergraduate design program. DesJardins continued, “They were an exceptionally motivated and talented group, and their clinical and departmental mentors assisted them in developing particularly innovative solutions in healthcare.” The 2018 class fielded seven design team entries, and four were chosen for recognition.
Among the 2018 honors, Clemson teams won the VentureWell Venture Prize, 2nd place in the National Institutes of Health’s DEBUT competition, and 2 of the 6 NIH DEBUT honorable mentions. One of these teams also won 2nd place in the Biomedical Engineering Society’s undergraduate design competition.
The Venture Prize, $15000, was awarded to the Concentracizor 4 (C4): A Novel Gyroscopic Screw Guide for Long Bone Fracture Fixation by Clemson’s Ian DeMass, Kaleb Guion, Bennett Hardymon, Andrew Moore, and Casey Young. The device is designed to help guide surgeons when placing orthopedic screws to set and repair broken bones. A screw that is misaligned with the hole that was initially drilled can lead to unnecessary pain and additional surgeries. The Concentracizor 4 is a simple device that uses gyroscopes to record the drilling alignment and light emitting diodes to guide the surgeon back to the proper angle for screw placement. The device is handheld, light, and can accommodate any size surgical drill.
DEBUT’s 2nd place, $15000, was awarded to The Voyager: A Tibial Resection Tissue Protector by Clemson’s Colin Fair, Mina Gad, Alex Giron, Nick Matel, and Tusharbhai Patel. The device can assist in the resection of the tibia, helping reduce the amount of vein and ligament damage and other complications during total knee replacement procedures. The Voyager also allows for the complete resection of the tibia without other tools or technicians, making the procedure quicker and easier for surgeons.
A DEBUT Honorable Mention was awarded to The Smart Snare: A Novel Colonoscopy Polyp Snare System, by Lauren Alford, Sheena Amin, Nicholas Baxter, Bryce Kunkle, John McGreevey and Julia Spieker. The Smart Snare includes a rotatability feature in addition to a novel axial bending component. The Smart Snare’s novel features and rotatability give unparalleled control, allowing for quicker and more complete polyp removal during colonoscopy. These features would make approximately half of secondary surgies unnecessary, reducing associated costs and complications.
A second DEBUT Honorable Mention was awarded for an “Implantable Port for the Localization and Sustainment of Encapsulated Cells for Cellular Therapy” by Alex Ormerod, Bradley Scammon and Lucas Tatem. Cellular therapy has emerged as an alternative to immunosuppressive medications and has produced spectacular results in both animal and clinical trials. Despite their success, cellular therapies remain confined to the laboratory because of two outstanding problems: immune rejection of the implanted cells and a hypoxic implantation environment. This device attempts to resolves these issues. It combines the convenience and standardization of a subcutaneous implantable port with the nourishing environment established by implanted cellulose to create a single device that allows for the localized delivery and sustainment of encapsulated cells.
Other design competition awardees included Johns Hopkins University, Georgia Tech, the University of California Riverside, Drexel University, Columbia University, and University of Texas at Arlington. Each winner provided a video about the design, which can be found at the link below.
https://www.nibib.nih.gov/training-careers/undergraduate-graduate/design-biomedicalundergraduate-teams-debut-challenge/2018-debut-challenge-winners
