A new wearable monitoring system to improve the lives of kidney dialysis patients has earned high honors and financial backing in the 2024 Cozad New Venture Challenge for a team of students at Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED).
The team, Auvi, is creating a system to advance clinical care, improve safety, and allow for a better quality of life for patients receiving dialysis care for chronic kidney disease. Led by CI MED student Richie Li, the team won second place in the finals of the Cozad New Venture Challenge, earning a start-up investment of $35,000 and accolades from entrepreneurs.
Clinicians treating patients with end-stage kidney disease rely on arteriovenous fistulas – surgically created connections between the patient’s vein and artery – to deliver life-saving dialysis care. Because the fistula is beneath the skin’s surface, detecting emerging problems can be difficult. The Auvi system being developed by Li and classmates Eric Moran and Szymon Kasperek includes a wearable device that resembles a glucose monitoring patch, to continuously monitor the fistula for proper blood flow. The system is aimed at allowing doctors to intervene quickly when a fistula fails, potentially avoiding the need to repeat surgeries which can cost between $6000 and $10,000 each.
With some 100,000 fistula surgeries per year in the US, the team cited affordable care organizations as a potential market for their device, which could be marketed on a subscription basis. The team presented their innovation to a panel of entrepreneurial-minded judges in the final round of the Cozad Challenge. In addition to their Second Place winnings, Auvi was awarded the $1000 Audience Favorite Award.
An additional CI MED team, AmnioSense, earned $10,000 in investment by advancing to the finals of the Cozad New Venture Challenge. Team leader Tessabella Magliochetti Cammarata says their non-invasive pH-sensitive underwear liner is designed to provide an objective and cost-effective indication of the onset of labor, preventing unnecessary trips to the hospital for ‘false alarms.’ The innovation was inspired by Magliochetti Cammarata’s work with expectant mothers in rural settings who must drive long distances to deliver their babies. Other team members include CI MED students Nellie Haug and Bhargavee Gnanasambandam.
Auvi and AmnioSense are among more than 30 teams eligible to compete for additional funding in the Cozad New Venture Challenge’s Healthcare Track, co-sponsored by CI MED and the Technology Entrepreneur Center at Illinois. Prizes will be awarded in the categories of Healthcare Innovation, Sports Medicine, and Rural Health on April 24, 2024, at the Year-End Entrepreneurship Celebration and Awards Ceremony at the Campus Instructional Facility.
The Cozad New Venture Challenge is an annual event featuring a diverse array of teams, each at different stages of the startup lifecycle. It is organized by the Technology Entrepreneur Center. Read more about this year's event here.