We had a really exceptional year. Our students worked on exciting projects and we achieved our learning objectives. Thank you to everyone who helped make it a success.

The BioDesign 2022 Cohort

The 2022 cohort consists of seven teams.

Team Notomi

The members of Team Notomi are Chloe Bevans, Selim Darendeliler, Sas Edippily, Emily Ferguson and Jason Tam.

Team Tupointo

Team Tuponito consists of Julian Bianco, Maggie Lam, Mark Perrott, Robert Tran and Shehan Wisidagama. Their first product, The Helping Hand, aims to help nurses avoid injury.

They won the SEMBA Class of 2003 Award for Best Business Approach at the 2022 Endeavour Showcase.

They also won the Telstra Enhancing the Australian Economy Through Innovation Award.

Team Efyra

Team Efyra consists of Ryan Kimball, Dheeghayu Praveen Kusaladarma, Nirav Pal, Loukas Tsigaras and Si Yeaw. They are working on a new device to assist urological surgery.

At the Endeavour showcase, they won the University’s RIC Commercialisation Award.

Team Noodles

Rochelle De Silva, Simone Di-Bisceglie, Cindy M Hidajat, Rob Jenny and Christopher Ong created Noodles Medical. They are aiming to revolusionise womens’ health.

At the University’s Endeavour showcase, Team Noodles won four awards: 

• Telstra Digital Innovation Award
• Airwallex Enhancing Social Impact through Innovation Award
• Stephen Ho Innovation Award ($20k)
• Road to Endeavour Award

Team AcuDent

Team AcuDent consists of Aaron Binns, Anna Dai, Ashwin Ho, Liam Murray and Ivy Weng.

They are our first BioDesign team working on dental innovation. AcuDent’s device, the AcuProbe, applies computer vision within the oral environment to more efficiently and accurately conduct the work that current practice burdens the clinician to do manually. The device will ensure that proper diagnosis is achieved to avoid the occurrence of undetected periodontitis, ensuring patients receive the best possible care and dramatically reducing the chances of tooth loosening and tissue degradation.

At the Endeavour exhibition, Team Acudent won the following awards:

• Telstra Customer & Community Impact Award;
• Airwallex Customer Centric Design & Social Impact Award;
• Stephen Ho Innovation Award ($30k);
• 2022 Endeavour People’s Choice Award;
• Runner-up for the Road to Endeavour Award.

They are also finalists for the Medtech Actuator Origin competition.

Team Envi

The members of Team Envi are Amin Abbas, Rizwan Jaipurwala, Frederick Lau, Nay Minn, Steven Wong and Yi (Joey) Zhu.

Team Envi is a finalist in the 2022 Medtech Actuator Origin competition.

Team Sensure

Team Sensure consists of Daniel Bertone, Brandon Chen, Sophia Hsiang, Aaron Khoo and Michael Qu. Workng in partnership with the Royal Childrens Hospital, they are working to reduce complications during epidural injections.

In 2021 David, Simon and Kwang proudly received the Norman Curry Award for Innovation and Excellence in Educational Programs on behalf of the BioDesign Melbourne Program. The Norman Curry Award is only one of five University-level Teaching Excellence awards and we are really honoured to receive it.

In addition, in late 2020 we were named one of three finalists for the Excellence in Student Engagement Award by Engagement Australia.

Thank you to everyone who helped make BioDesign a success.

BioDesign Awards

This year, two teams received prizes thanks to the Stephen Ho Innovation Awards, while another team won the prize for Best Business Approach awarded by the MBS SEMBA Class of 2003.

The BioDesign 2021 Cohort

The 2021 cohort consists of six teams, working on topics relating to patient monitoring, ultrasound, vision and neonatal care.

Team Vysum

Isaac Ho, David Lin, Aryan Motevali, Darren Tan and Lorace Zhang are the members of Team Vysum. They address glaucoma, an eye disease resulting in vision loss. Team Vysum developed The Occumate, a hardware-software solution transforming the way eye drops are delivered.

The team won one of two prestigious Stephen Ho Innovation Awards to help them commercialise their invention beyond the BioDesign course.

Team Vysum is a finalist in the 2021 Medtech Actuator Origin competition.

Team InCinta

Team InCinta consists of Monisha Gunawardana, Carol Gee, Tom Lee, Hansel Winarta and Tiasha Fernando. They offer accurate remote monitoring of foetal health, which helps expecting couples overcome anxiety and reduce hospital visits.

They won the Peoples’ Choice Award at the 2021 Endeavour Showcase.

Team Vause

Team Vause consists of Michelle Callow, Amanda Druk, Shelby Holland, Mara Quach and Alexandra Wigley. They are using machine learning to improve meningitis diagnosis. This guidance tool makes spinal taps more accurate, ensuring meningitis diagnosis is less error-prone in a tool that is both portable and low-cost.

Team Vause made it into the semi-finals of the Ericsson Innovation Awards 2021 and will be representing Australia in the competition this December.

At the Endeavour showcase, they won the MBS SEMBA Class of 2003 BioDesign Award.

Team Vause is a semi-finalist of the 2021 Medtech Actuator Origin competition.

Team spOsense

Thomas Clarke, Anna Eades, Mitchell Legg, Warne Lewis and Wenn Lynn are team spOsense. They have developed an innovative way to mesaure blood oxygen saturation in children, using a wireless sensor that is both child-friendly and helps clinicians streamline the monitoring process.

At the Endeavour showcase, they won the Telstra Digital Innovation Award.

Team Venosense

Team Venosense consists of Chun Yau Gan, Shanna Lam, Olivia Lang, Song Li and Michelle Waugh.

Their team is making great strides in transforming peripheral intravenenous visualisation, through the use of a 3d imaging system that will help improve the accuracy of cannulation procedures. Cannulation is one of the most widely performed invasive procedures in medicine, and their invention has the potential to make a significant difference to the patient experience and quality of healthcare.

Team Anura

Anura consists of Jessica Anderson, Rebecca McCormick, Phoebe Lewis, William Symington and Ela Venugopal. Their invention, CAHM, aims at keeping respiratory patients out of hospital through at-home monitoring of lung function.

At the Endeavour 2021 Showcase, they won an impressive number of awards:

• The QinetiQ Endeavour Award,
• The Endeavour Research Innovation and Commercialisation Prize,
• Telstra Customer and Community Impact Award,
• Telstra Excellence in Learning and Application Award,
• One of two Stephen Ho Innovation Awards with significant funding to help them commercialise their project idea.

Anura is a semi-finalist of the 2021 Medtech Actuator Origin competition.

The 2020 cohort consists of four teams, working on topics relating to patient monitoring, stroke rehabilitation and neonatal care.

Team YABi

Team YABi has developed an accurate and automated method for monitoring and escalating surgical drain output. This is valuable for patients recovering from surgery.

At the 2020 University of Melbourne Endeavour Exhibition, Team YABi won the prestigious Graham Beanland Commercialisation Award. They also won the QinetiQ Endeavour Award.

Somnus Medical

Team Somnus addresses postoperative oxygen desaturation in patients suffering obstructive sleep apnea, through the use of a wearable device.

Team Somnus were Runner Up for the Road to Endeavour Award, 2020.

Team BioStory

BioStory developed an innovative system for the early detection of sepsis in pre-term babies.

At the Endeavour Exhibition BioStory won the Telstra Customer and Community Impact Award and special mention for the Graham Beanland Commercialisation Award. It received the Peoples’ Choice award from Endeavour with over a thousand votes. BioStory also won 3rd place for the Road to Endeavour Video award.

Team ReCube

Team ReCube ensures continuity in stroke rehabilitation under the remote care of a physiotherapist by using a wearable sensor device.