Breakthrough in Preventing Food-borne Illnesses Wins $20,000 Grand Prize in Global Design Contest

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new invention could protect millions from contracting food-borne illnesses. The αScreen is a portable, rapid pathogen screener that could allow screening of up to 100% of food produced in processing plants, before it is delivered to the consumer. αScreen is highly accurate, can detect as low as a single bacteria, and is approximately 50 times less expensive than the established, currently used detection methods. http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1896

Monika Weber of New Haven, CT, a graduate student at Yale University, is the team leader on this design project. She and a select team of students at Yale University's School of Engineering and Applied Science are responsible for the advancement of the design. Monika spent two years working on preliminary projects in bio-detection before the design for the αScreen was finalized.

After hearing the news that she was the grand prize winner of the "Create the Future" Design Contest, Ms. Weber replied, "Winning the Create the Future Design Contest was far beyond my expectations and I am really honored by receiving this award. I feel by winning this contest, it will give me the exposure needed to bring this product to market."

The Create the Future Design Contest is sponsored by PTC (www.ptc.com), COMSOL (www.comsol.com), and Tech Briefs Media Group (www.techbriefsmedia.com). The αScreen bacteria detection device was among the more than 900 new product ideas submitted in the ninth design contest, which was established to recognize and reward engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy.

In addition to the grand prize, first-place winners (of Hewlett-Packard workstations) were named in seven categories:

Consumer Products
UVA+B Sunfriend
Karin Edgett and Shahid Aslam
A wristband that provides effective and inexpensive UVA and UVB monitoring.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1501

Electronics – sponsored by Digi-Key (www.digikey.com)
iPecs Tech
Michael Leydet, College Park Industries
A tool to accurately measure human locomotion or gait parameters on users of lower limb prostheses.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1926

Machinery & Equipment
Hybrid Rotor Compressor for Natural Gas Extraction
Jeremy Pitts and Pedro Santos, OsComp Systems
A breakthrough natural gas compression technology that is 30% more energy-efficient than current compressors.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1879

Medical
XVIVO Organ Perfusion System
Chris Jaynes, Tom Taccini, and Tim Klug, XVIVO Perfusion
A mobile intensive care unit that can repair damaged organs ex vivo (out of the donor's body) for successful transplantation into a waiting recipient.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1468

Safety & Security
AquaSonus Passive-Sonar Pool Alarm
William C. Roberts, Bob Hoenig, and Paula Bailey, AquaSonus.com
State-of-the-art digital signal processor pool alarm system designed to prevent child drowning accidents.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1625

Sustainable Technologies
TO:CMA Spherical Generator
Angel Francisco Martinez, Delia Beatriz Martinez, and Trupti Bulbule, Cornell University
A generator that creates copious amounts of clean electricity out of ocean waves at costs below all major existing renewable energy sources.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1714

Transportation
Dynamic Aero-Shroud Oscillating Jet
Rebecca Farr, Endwell Daso, Victor Pritchett, and Ten-See Wang, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
This technology could enable hypersonic passenger transport connecting Earth's cities, dramatically shortening travel times.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1783

Finalists were selected by senior editors at Tech Briefs Media Group and judged by an independent panel of design engineers. Visitors to the contest Web site could vote on entries, with the 10 most popular designs awarded a SpaceNavigator 3D mouse from 3Dconnexion. Popular design winners and honorable mentions hailed from Canada, Mexico, Italy, and the Slovakia, in addition to the U.S. For more information, visit www.createthefuture2011.com.

About COMSOL

COMSOL, Inc. (Burlington, MA) provides software solutions for multiphysics modeling and simulation. Its flagship product, COMSOL Multiphysics, lets engineers and scientists build simulations that bring their design ideas to life. COMSOL's customers apply this technology to make cars and aircraft safer and more energy efficient, enhance the reception of our cell phones, search for new energy sources, explore the universe, develop medical equipment enabling more accurate diagnoses, and educate the next generation of scientists. www.comsol.com

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), The Product Development Company(r), develops, markets and supports product development software solutions and related services that help companies achieve their product development strategies and optimize their processes. Using the company's tightly integrated CAD and enterprise PLM solutions, organizations are better able to create and manage product information throughout the lifecycle for optimal product development success.  More information may be found at www.ptc.com.

About Tech Briefs Media Group

Tech Briefs Media Group is publisher of NASA Tech Briefs, the largest-circulation design-engineering magazine worldwide and Defense Tech Briefs, the largest-circulation engineering magazine for the mil/aero market. The Tech Briefs Media Group product line has grown to include print/digital advertising, email/web products, virtual events, seminars & conferences, custom media and content related advertising. Combined, these products reach over 600,000 engineers and managers worldwide. www.techbriefsmedia.com

SOURCE Tech Briefs Media Group