CBID Students Dominate Field
Filed Under: Research, Awards, Student Design
Call it climbing to the top of the bracket. Call it the Final Four. But whatever you call it, call it impressive. Here are two students discussing one project on CNN.
Johns Hopkins students in the engineering school’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) have amassed an impressive win record during this nationwide season of design and business plan competitions.
Most recently, a CBID team won first place, and $10,000, in the “Be the Change: Save a Life” maternal health challenge, sponsored by ABC News and the Duke Global Health Institute.
Their product: A simple, yet elegant, diagnostic test in the form of a magic-marker pen that screens pregnant women and children for life threatening conditions such as gestational diabetes. The cost: a half cent. The payoff: A possible life saved.
“It’s almost surreal, and it’s really exciting,” says Sean Monagle, who began working on the project as an undergraduate. “At first it was just a few undergraduates working on this crazy idea of using a pen to save lives. Then, things really started to take off…”
But this award is only the latest in a string of victories that this team and other CBID teams have had this academic year. The 12-month master’s program, in its second year, has been attracting attention – and investment dollars – for its excellence as students come up with blockbuster idea, after blockbuster idea, to solve real health problems here and abroad.
So far, the program’s 15 graduate students have earned more than $150,000 in outside funding and awards in competitions this business plan competition season.
“This highlights some of the best of what we do,” says Nicholas P. Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School. “Our students pursue excellence in academics and application, and then they put this knowledge to work to solve real health problems with innovation.”
Evidently, judges like the approach too.
CBID’s program is attracting even more fanfare this year for its Global Health Initiative, the result of an innovative partnership with Jhpiego, a JHU affiliate that pioneers innovative health solutions for women and children.
There are many products and ideas to explore, but here are our Final Four:
Boss Harvester: A minimally invasive bone grafting solution. This novel medical device can be used in minimally invasive surgery to extract a patient’s own bone marrow from their hip bone for use in bone grafts. Awards: Harvard Business Plan Competition (tied for 1st Place), MIT Executive Summary Competition (1st Place, Life Sciences); Wharton Business Plan Competition (Finals); Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition (2nd Place). Purse: $83,400.
Antenatal Screening Kit: A low-cost diagnostic screening kit to test women and babies for life threatening conditions. Awards: Rice Business Plan Competition (Social Venture Award); JHU Business Plan Competition (First Place, Social Enterprise); ABC News/Duke Global Health Institute Video (First Place). Purse: $61,500.
TheraCord: A cord blood collection device. An easy-to-use device, called the CBx System, that is being tested at Johns Hopkins Hospital to collect cord blood from the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of a baby. These cells are an important source of currently discarded stem cells. Awards: UVa Business Plan (2nd Place); Cornell Business Plan (2nd Place); Georgia Bowl (tied for first place). Purse: $11,600.
HEMOVA: A port to provide access to blood in dialysis patients. The Hemova Port will reduced the number of surgeries required to fix or place blood access devices in patients requiring kidney dialysis. Awards: MIT Elevator Pitch (Finalist); Rice Business Plan Competition (3rd Place, Life Sciences); Oregon New Venture Challenge (Finalist; Elevator Pitch winner). Purse: $9,750.