The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance announced the winners of its annual Biomedical Engineering Innovations, Design, and Entrepreneurship Awards (BMEidea) during the MD&M East Medical Device Trade Show and Convention in Philadelphia.
The first-place winner of the competition was the EchoSure, created by a team of graduate students from Johns Hopkins University, which enables nurses to perform routine monitoring of patients' vascular health at the bedside. The EchoSure system detects post-operative complications as they arise, using the EchoMark, a novel implant, and EchoFind, an ultrasound software package that locks onto the unique EchoMark signature and analyzes blood flow.
Second place was awarded to the AWAIR design team from Stanford University, which is developing the Wyshbone drug delivery catheter—a device that continuously delivers lidocaine to the throat to reduce the discomfort of having a breathing tube inserted.
Johns Hopkins University students received the third-place prize for DS Labs' Gala Pump, an effective, hands-free, concealable breast pump that allows mothers to discreetly pump in the presence of others. The compact system fits comfortably and securely into an undergarment. With support from The Lemelson Foundation, the BMEidea competition recognizes the best of the best in student-driven, innovative biomedical engineering design with high commercial potential and social impact.
