NCIIA Funds University Biomedical Engineering Teams at BMEidea Awards

NEW YORK, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the NCIIA presented cash prizes to three university biomedical engineering teams in recognition of their leading work in the field. This year's winners of the Biomedical Engineering Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Award (BMEidea) Competition—a national competition celebrating student biomedical innovation—were announced during the Medical Design Excellence Awards ceremony at the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East trade show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York.

The BMEidea Competition, now in its seventh year, is open to university teams from NCIIA member institutions from across the United States. First place—an award of $10,000—was awarded to the Magneto: Magnetic Induction Internal Bleed Detector team from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Magneto internal bleeding monitor is a portable, non-invasive, autonomous, and cost-effective device for detecting internal bleeding complications after catheterization procedures through the femoral artery. The device is intended to replace the standard 'observational' approach, during which medical personnel examine patients several times an hour for signs of tachycardia, hypotension, swelling, visual bruising, pain and discomfort.

The second-place prize of $2,500 was awarded to the Oculeve team from Stanford University, which is developing therapy that treats severe dry eye more effectively and less expensively than current treatments. This is accomplished through the insertion of a microstimulator the size of a grain of rice into the lacrimal tear duct by a needle introducer (similar to a Botox injection). The bead painlessly delivers an electrical current that restores natural tears.

Third place—$1,000 in cash—was presented to the Medtric Biotech team from Purdue University, which has developed OSMOSE, a line of antimicrobial dressings for the prevention of and treatment for infected wounds. OSMOSE provides a wide spectrum antibacterial activity (even against antibiotic resistant strains), promotes wound healing and provides an economical solution in a high priced field.

"There will never be 'too many' biotechnology inventions," said Phil Weilerstein, Executive Director of the NCIIA. "The student inventors represented today are on the pulse of a hot trend, creating medical devices with great potential for commercialization."

The BMEidea Competition is sponsored by the NCIIA; the National Science Foundation; Boston Scientific; Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry Magazine (MDDI); and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

About BMEidea

BMEidea is the brainchild of the BME Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Alliance, a consortium of BME faculty from NCIIA member institutions with an interest in stimulating innovative design and entrepreneurial approaches in the biomedical field. First held in 2005, winners of this annual competition are selected from some of the nation's top biomedical engineering departments and are judged by a panel of faculty and industry representatives. Winners are required to solve a pressing clinical problem; meet technical, economic, legal and regulatory requirements; feature a novel and practical design; and show potential for commercialization. For more information, please see http://www.nciia.org.

About the NCIIA

The NCIIA achieves positive and sustainable social and environmental impact through technological innovation by providing end-to-end service grants, mentoring and other experiential resources to higher education institutions. With support from The Lemelson Foundation, the National Science Foundation and a membership of nearly 200 colleges and universities from all over the United States, the NCIIA engages more than 5,000 student entrepreneurs each year, leveraging their respective campuses as working laboratories and incubators for businesses and ultimately helping them to bring their concepts to commercialization. For more information, please visit http://www.nciia.org.

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SOURCE NCIIA