As part of the MedTech-Athon programme, which has a number of stages and lasts a few months, doctoral students have been developing concepts for practical solutions or demonstrators within the field of biomedical engineering. First, they submitted their ideas, then they formed teams, participated in training sessions and workshops and, finally, they focused on working on particular concepts over a 48-hour marathon.

Seven teams took part in the programme. Each team had to be interdisciplinary and consist of at least two people studying at a WUT Doctoral School. Awards were prepared for the best teams. These included funding for continuing their work (financed under the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme) and the chance to participate in WUT’s “Akcelerator” programme.

Challenging air pollution

Personal-Sensbox was the winning team. Szymon Baczyński, Dominik Kołodziejek, Monika Nisiewicz and Kasper Marchlewicz decided to create a portable monitoring device for people suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). People affected by this disease may be particularly sensitive to some types of air pollution.

“Our device’s purpose is to detect particulate matter, nitric oxides and cigarette smoke. It also warns its user when air quality norms are exceeded and it collects information that can be used by the patient’s doctor,” explains Kasper Marchlewicz, the team leader.

The device has portable format, a dedicated app and specifically selected sensors, allowing for both monitoring and warning functions.

The winning team with prof. Mariusz Malinowski, the Vice-Rector for Science, and prof. Zbigniew Brzózka, photo: CEZAMAT

Detecting illnesses

FluoFibers and Scienceporium Two were the two teams that finished tied in second place.

The FluoFibers team proposed an innovative method for detecting Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers that used biologically modified photonic circuits.

“The method that we have presented potentially allows for the detection of very low protein concentrations in blood samples, thus enabling early screening and diagnosis of people at risk of developing this neurodegenerative disease,” says Adrian Duszczyk, team leader.

This is a breakthrough compared to today’s methods of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, such as a cerebrospinal fluid analysis or CT scan with contrast.

Our doctoral students would like this kind of analysis to become standard during routine blood tests in diagnostic labs.

Sylwia Karoń, Anna Szymczyk, Bartłomiej Bałamut, Adrian Duszczyk, Marcin Lelit and Paweł Rękas will continue to develop this concept.

The FluoFibers team with prof. Mariusz Malinowski, the Vice-Rector for Science, and prof. Zbigniew Brzózka, photo: CEZAMAT

The Scienceporium came up with VIRITEST: a biodegradable test kit for early detection of Lassa virus. This virus causes Lassa haemorrhagic fever – a fatal contagious disease endemic to West Africa. At the beginning of this year, the virus was detected in Europe.

“The kit is characterised by its simplicity and ease of use, as well as the speed at which test results are obtained,” Mohammed Edawdi, team leader.

The project was created by: Mohammed Edawdi, Joanna Baran, Laboni Manna, Varun Gopalakrishnan and Jakub Sikora.

The Scienceporium team with prof. Mariusz Malinowski, the Vice-Rector for Science, and prof. Zbigniew Brzózka, photo: CEZAMAT

Breathing therapy anew

The Prędkość Dzika (pd med solutions) team received a distinction. As their reward, they will participate in the “Akcelerator” programme.

Doctoral students have created a solution to provide at-home breathing therapy.

“We have developed Breeze, a device that connects to your phone via Bluetooth and that works like a game controller that allows you to control your game through breathing,” explains Piotr Falkowski, team leader. “We design games in a way that makes them adjust to patients and enable personalised training sessions with airflow limitation or threshold pressure load.”

Through the use of intelligent algorithms, this at-home therapy will become much more effective than the rehabilitation with solutions currently available on the market.

This concept has been developed by: Piotr Falkowski (team leader), Maciej Pikuliński, Anna Pastor, Julia Wilk, Bazyli Leczkowski and Sylwia Breczko.

“We are currently working on formally establishing our company and we strongly believe that our product will soon be available across Europe,” Piotr Falkowski adds.

The Prędkość Dzika (pd med solutions) team with prof. Mariusz Malinowski, the Vice-Rector for Science, and prof. Zbigniew Brzózka, photo: CEZAMAT

Science and business at WUT

“I am highly impressed by the concepts prepared by our teams,” says prof. Mariusz Malinowski, Vice-Rector for Science and MedTech-Athon juror. “They show what is crucial and precious both in the process of education and in research work: interdisciplinarity, cooperation, a project-led approach and the connecting of the realms of science and business. I shall be curious to see how the ideas that were part of the project develop.” 

“Now more than ever we need scientists that are open to the world, people who see its problems and are ready to solve them,” stresses prof. Adam Woźniak, the Vice-Rector for Development, who inaugurated the project marathon. “As a technical university, we feel we have the duty to react and respond to the needs of our surroundings. MedTech-Athon is a great example of how things can be done.”

The project marathon was inaugurated by prof. Adam Woźniak, the Vice-Rector for Development, photo: CEZAMAT   

The MedTech-Athon ran from 17 March to 29 May 2022. It was organised by CEZAMAT Centre for Advanced Materials and Technologies, CZIiTT Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer Management, and WUT Doctoral Schools.

The originators and initiators of the event are prof. Zbigniew Brzózka (Faculty of Chemistry at WUT, head of the CB POB Biotechnology and biomedical engineering as part of the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” project) and prof. Elżbieta Malinowska (Faculty of Chemistry at WUT, Deputy Director for Research and Development at CEZAMAT).