Thank you to everyone who helped make BioDesign2023 a success.

The BioDesign 2023 Cohort

The 2023 cohort consists of six teams.

Team 1: Iris Medical

The members of Iris Medical are Auwen Xia, Isabella Doan, Kate Owen, Jennifer Meek, and James Williams. Their project revolutionises IUD insertion.

Iris Medical won three awards at the Endeavour showcase. Each of these is open to all of the 120+ project participants, so theirs is a remarkable achievement.

• Endeavour Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Award. This year, the prestigious RIC award also includes entry into the MAP Velocity Program.
• Airwallex Enhancing Social Impact Through Innovation Award, and the
• QinetiQ Endeavour Award.

Team 2: BlissFlow

BlissFlow consists of Connie Zhang, Xinyi Wang, Arun Jha, Davide Boffa, Isabella Jones and Michal Pasternak. They are addressing urinary incontinence with a new device.

They won the $10,000 SEMBA Class of 2003 Award for Best Business Approach at the 2023 Endeavour Showcase.

Team 3: Sano Technologies (Sanotech)

Sano Technologies consists of David Conidaris (BME), Benny Li (BME), Yen Tien Yap (BME), Candice Bao (MBA) and John A. Nguyen (MBA). The team is developing a high-definition composition mapping system for lymphoedema, a chronic condition characterised by fluid build-up that frequently occurs after surgery or trauma.

At the Endeavour 2023 showcase, Sano Technologies won two distinguished awards:

• One of two Stephen Ho Innovation Awards, winning a sizable $20,000 prize. This award recognises the dedication of the team in identifying clinical needs, validating these needs in the market, and then proceeding to develop prototypes and business plans. The prize money will support further prototyping and provide financial backing for continued development after the BioDesign course concludes.
• The Telstra Community Impact Excellence Award. This award celebrates efforts that go beyond standard business objectives and aims to make a meaningful and lasting difference in the communities they serve. By operating in an ethical and trustworthy manner, Sano Technologies will inspire and bring about positive change in the lymphoedema community.

Sano Technologies is committed to making a long-term, positive impact on human health. The team is excited to expand its disruptive innovation, considering broader applications for other conditions that would benefit from high-definition composition mapping.

Team 4: Ellis Medical

Laura Harman, Seray Colakoglu, Shirdheen Murali, Lee M Hanify, Sinth Jegaskanda and Liz Davis founded Ellis Medical. They are aiming to improve the monitoring of patient lungs in ICU.

At the University’s Endeavour showcase, Ellis Medical won the top prize for the Stephen Ho Innovation Award, worth $30,000. In addition they won the Peoples’ Choice Award, further validation that their work has the potential to make a big impact in future.

Team 5: ReArm

Team ReARM consists of Yuyang Mei (Young), Yuanzhi Zhuo, Michael Coghlan, Kimberly Ang, Yuanqing Jiang (Ryan) and Zhu Mao (Jackie). Their invention aims to help stroke survivors restore mobility, through a combination of a werable device, analytics software and a mobile arm-support system.

Team 6: Scar No More

The members of Scar No More are Xi (Cecily) Chen, Ethan Kalms, Ish Kadakia, Cheens Lee, Edie Cheng and Joanne Du. They are working on a new approach to help people with major scars, such as Keloid scars. Their project is ambitious in combining multiple techniques into one simple and efficient approach to help clinicians improve the way scars are reduced.