Biomedical Engineering (BME) students Ethan Chung, Jeffrey Feng, Evandros Kaklamanos, Joey Kuang and Timothy Seto won $10,000 at the annual Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design event held online on March 31. Their project, Petalos, also earned $3,000 as the winner of the Sedra People's Choice Award.
The idea to develop a new gastrointestinal endoscope came after a couple of team members who worked in surgical units discovered it can be one of the most contaminated medical devices.
The students' design includes a removable and disposable insertion tube and channels and an autoclavable body to improve the device's cleaning process and reduce contamination for better clinical outcomes.
“While maintaining full functionality, Petalos removes the most tedious, time-consuming and error-prone reprocessing steps and achieves the gold standard of sterilization through autoclaving,” the team said.
About Petalos
Flexible endoscopes are intricate surgical devices consisting of long, narrow, and heat-sensitive internal channels used for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The complex channel geometry makes them challenging to reprocess through manual cleaning and chemical washing, resulting in tedious reprocessing procedures leading to an increased chance of contamination. Petalos is a flexible endoscope with removable and disposable modules and an autoclavable controller body. While maintaining full functionality, Petalos removes the most tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone reprocessing steps and achieves the gold standard of sterilization through autoclaving.
For the full list of award winners, visit Successfully pitching inventive projects