Winners were announced this week in the DEsign By Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge, a nationwide contest that invites undergrads to tackle problems in three categories of biomedical design. The video above demonstrates the winner in the "Therapeutic Device" category, the QuickStitch Surgical Suturing Device to Improve Fascia Closure, which was developed by five students at Johns Hopkins University. From an National Institutes of Health press release describing the team's invention:
QuickStitch is an inexpensive, disposable suturing tool for gastrointestinal surgery that improves safety, efficiency, and consistency in stitching fascia (a collagenous layer underneath the skin that wraps around the internal organs to keep them from pressing against the skin layer). The device aims to improve surgeon performance and patient outcomes by regulating stitch placement and tension, thus helping to avoid the problems of hernias and ischemia that can result from improper stitching after gastrointestinal surgery.
The team won a $10,000 prize, as did the winners in the contest's two other categories, "Diagnostic Devices" and "Technology to Aid Underserved Populations and Individuals with Disabilities." Six teams also received honorable mentions. The contest was sponsored by the the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The entire list of winning projects is a fun read.
Previously: New gadget for measuring white blood cells invented at Stanford, Stanford and FDA to collaborate on med-tech education and How Embrace infant warmers are saving lives in developing nations
