BME students place first at BMEStart Competition

Biomedical engineering senior design students at North Carolina State University took first place in the inaugural BMEStart biomedical design competition for undergraduate students.

NC State will receive a trophy and a $10,000 cash prize recognizing the team’s participants and the Joint NC State-UNC Department of Biomedical Engineering. The team will be honored October 6-9 at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.

BMEStart is the first competition designed for undergraduate biomedical and bioengineering students in the United States. The sponsors hope to stimulate the invention of medical technologies and devices that are adopted as clinical solutions.

NC State students Alex McGaughy, Roya Nezarati, Eli Pollack, Trinh Doan and Elizabeth Kirk submitted the winning entry entitled “HydrEYE CorneOasis Contact Lens,” a contact lens that maintains eye hydration. The lens rests on the sclera of the eye and has a covering that vaults over the cornea. Consequently, the device traps a liquid reservoir between the cornea surface and the contact lens. The device is intended for individuals who suffer from severe dry eye, due to the inability to blink, including traumatic brain injury, facial palsy, and burns.

Entries are judged based on technical, economic and regulatory feasibility; contribution to human health and quality of life; technological innovation; and potential for commercialization.

BME Senior Design is a two-semester required course that is designed to help students prepare for the workplace and graduate studies. The course uses an innovative development process and includes a clinical needs assessment. The course also follows design controls, which emulate the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Quality System Regulations.

BMEStart is sponsored by the National Collegiate Inventors Alliance with support from the Lemelson Foundation, in partnership with the IEEE EMBS, the BMES, and the Council of Chairs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering Programs.

The Joint NC State-UNC Department of Biomedical Engineering is co-located at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It links the School of Medicine at UNC-CH to the College of Engineering at NC State.