This year’s Y-Prize competition winner is an ambitious team of undergraduates aiming to bring Penn-developed technology to patients suffering with bile duct obstructions. Their proposed product, Stentix, has been awarded $10,000 to get this work off the ground with preliminary research and prototype design throughout the next five years.
The Y-Prize, a competition that challenges Penn students to build their entrepreneurial skills, is cosponsored by Penn Engineering, the Mack Institute, Venture Lab, and the Penn Center for Innovation. In this competition, which has been held on campus for 10 years, students team up to create business plans using technology invented at Penn Engineering. The team with the best commercial application wins $10,000 to help make their idea a reality.
This year’s winning team includes undergraduate and accelerated master’s student Summer Cobb in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) at Penn Engineering, and three members of the dual-degree Vagelos Life Sciences and Management Program between the College of Arts and Sciences and Wharton: Amanda Kossoff in Biology and Business Analytics, Elizabeth Jia in Neuroscience and Finance and Aarsha Shah in Biology and Finance. Nuzhat Ahmad, Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, mentored the team in exploring disease applications for their stent and refining its implementation strategy within academic hospitals.
Biliary stents are small, tube-like devices inserted into the bile ducts to help maintain bile flow from the liver to the small intestine. They’re often used to treat blockages caused by conditions such as pancreatic cancer, gallstones or complications from liver transplants. However, these stents can easily become blocked or dislodged, leading to the need for invasive procedures like endoscopy for repositioning or replacement. Together, the Stentix team makes use of MORF, a magnetic, self-reconfiguring “origami-style” material invented in Penn Engineering’s Sung lab, to address these challenges and help patients who are already suffering with more serious medical conditions avoid additional pain, discomfort or medical complications.
MORF, which stands for Magnetic Origami Reprogramming and Folding System, is a technology that makes it possible to automatically create and reshape complex 3D structures. It works by using magnets to ‘program’ a flat sheet of material which can then fold into different shapes, like a high-tech version of origami. This process allows the sheet to change its form and size as needed, while also integrating active materials and electronic parts. The Stentix team will use MORF to expand and deflate a cylindrical-shaped stent, reacting to changes in the patient’s body.
“Before I even knew of the Y-Prize competition, I was introduced to this technology in my MEAM 2100 course,” says Cobb. “I wanted to learn more about the electromagnetic inner workings of MORF, and once I did, a list of ideas instantaneously flew into my mind. I was drawn to MORF’s versatility and the unique ways it could be applied across different fields. This excitement ultimately pushed me and my team to pursue MORF for the competition, knowing that no matter what application we decided on, it had the potential to solve problems in ways we have not yet imagined.”
MORF allows the stent’s position and diameter to be adjusted noninvasively via magnetic reconfiguration. This innovative application is a breakthrough that could drastically reduce the need for additional surgeries or discomfort for patients, and become applicable in other types of stents required for other medical treatments.
This story was written by Melissa Pappas for Penn Engineering Today. Read the full story here.