Carle Illinois College of Medicine student Sanskruthi Priya Guduri has earned the title of Illinois Young Innovator of the Year for her solution to leverage ultrasound waves to improve surgeons’ field of vision during laparoscopic procedures.
Guduri won first place at the Falling Walls Lab Illinois pitch competition for her team’s breakthrough called Lapsonix, which uses ultrasound to clear debris from the camera lens at the end of a laparoscope used in minimally invasive surgical procedures. Guduri’s success in Illinois qualifies her to compete internationally at the global Falling Walls Lab finale in Berlin on Nov. 7.
“Our innovation speaks for itself. We recognized the need for better laparoscopic tools by talking to surgeons,” Guduri said. “Even though laparoscopic technology has been in use since the early 1900s, we haven’t fixed the most common problem seen with laparoscopic surgery. The idea came to me as I was driving home one day in the rain, watching rain bounce from the window, and here we are ready to make surgery safer. I am very excited about going to Berlin. I’m very proud of my Lapsonix team,” Guduri said. Her team includes CI MED students Anthony Wong, Deborah Nya, and Annie Tigranyan and Illinois students Asaiah Rock, Prakhar Gupta, Urvshi Thapar.
A panel of judges made up of leaders from Illinois’ public universities selected Guduri’s presentation, “Breaking the Wall of Global Surgery,” as the best out of a field of 13 young innovators and entrepreneurs.
"We hope that with our device we can make laparoscopic surgery a safer and better experience for surgeons and patients alike. Currently, we are working on our patent application, and we plan to collaborate with leaders in medical technology to make our solution a reality," Guduri said.
“Sanskruthi has done a great job identifying a significant problem in surgery,” said system Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation Jay Walsh. “As a bioengineer by training and having been associated with laparoscopic surgery since its inception, I am very pleased to see ultrasound used to clear debris from the camera lens at the end of a laparoscope. This innovation will solve a very real problem for surgeons and decrease operative time for the benefit of patients. There is no doubt that Sanskruthi will represent the University of Illinois System, the IIN, and the entire state of Illinois very well at the global Falling Walls Lab finale.”
Kyra Hulse, a second-year student at CI MED, was the competition’s runner-up. She presented an innovation called DefEndo, a non-invasive diagnostic blood test for endometriosis. The condition can cause scarring in the Fallopian tubes, ovarian cysts, and adhesions in the abdominal cavity that can lead to infertility. "The goal is to have this be a part of routine annual visits for teenagers," Hulse said. "When screening becomes a regular part of annual health visits in teenagers, around 2.5 million women per year will be prevented from experiencing infertility."
This is the second year in a row that a CI MED has taken top honors at the Falling Walls Illinois competition. Bhargavee Gnanasambandam was named Illinois Young Innovator of the Year in 2023.
Named after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Falling Walls Lab competitions give early-stage innovators a platform to share their work and network. Falling Walls Lab Illinois is presented by the Illinois Innovation Network, a group of 15 hubs across the state that aims to boost Illinois’ economy through entrepreneurship, research, and workforce development. Most of the hubs are located at public universities. The competition is sponsored by Caterpillar, Inc.
Falling Walls Lab is a fast-paced contest where competitors have three minutes to propose a research-based solution to a global problem. The winners of the 77 Falling Walls Lab satellite contests will be entered into the global Falling Walls Lab finale on November 7 — the eve of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. All finalists receive a scholarship that allows them to participate in the Falling Walls conference in Berlin.
The competition, which solicited applications from early-career researchers, entrepreneurs, and students across Illinois, included entrants from Bradley University, Northeastern Illinois University, Robert Morris University Illinois, and Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus.
The original version of this article by the University of Illinois System can be found here.