Devising a brilliant biomedical idea within an hour

Nanoparticle therapy proposal wins top honor at Rapid Ideation Proposal Competition

Published on: January 07, 2025 By: Jan Jarvis

BME Challenge 2024 banner — Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., Chair of the UTSW Department of Biomedical Engineering, talks to biomedical engineering and bioengineering students and faculty during lunch at the North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium.

Biomedical engineering students from institutions throughout Dallas-Fort Worth had just one hour to propose a solution to a pressing medical issue during the North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium Healthcare Challenge: Rapid Ideation Proposal Competition. Fast thinking paid off for the team whose idea involved developing a therapy to repair cartilage in osteoarthritic joints using advanced lipid nanoparticles.

group of 8 diverse people sit around a long table listening to 4 medical students presenting at the front of the room; standing from left: young white man with long dark hair wearing blue blazer, woman with long dark hair wearing grey sweater, woman with blue headscarf and blue dress, dark bearded man wearing black blazer.

Standing, from left, students Kyle Owlett of UT Dallas, Aixa Andrade of UT Southwestern, Zaina Rida of UT Dallas, and Michael Guerrero of SMU present their team idea to faculty judges during the symposium’s competition.

“We proposed using chemical tools to deliver genetic cargo to not only treat osteoarthritis, but to reverse it and help with the restoration of lost function,” said Joshua Robinson, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry at UTSW. “But the biggest thing I got out of the competition was working with people from other campuses and getting different perspectives.”

long meeting table in foreground of darkened room; young black man in blue polo shirt stands in light in front of presentation screen showing text and slides: LNPs will be by peptine conjugated and deliver a plethora of collogen mRNA

UTSW graduate student researcher Joshua Robinson pitches his team’s idea during the final round of the challenge. The team’s proposal involved using chemical tools to deliver genetic cargo to treat and reverse osteoarthritis.

UT Southwestern’s Department of Biomedical Engineering partnered with other biomedical and bioengineering students from UT Arlington, UT Dallas, and the University of North Texas for this activity at the 2024 North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium. The two-day event in November highlighted the breadth of biomedical research underway in North Texas.

That is exactly what Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., Chair of the UTSW Department of Biomedical Engineering, had in mind when he envisioned the symposium. The event may be the first time in history that North Texas biomedical engineering students have formally gathered to network, collaborate, and celebrate their achievements, he said.

“This is bringing us together, enabling us to tackle bigger challenges together,” said Dr. Achilefu, who is also a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, and in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. “I hope we will start creating new interinstitutional opportunities in our region.”

dark meeting room with long table in foreground, 5 people facing forward watch young bearded man in black suit present slide at front of room; slide title: Proposed Solution

The audience listens to one of the finalist team’s presentations involving a proposed solution for pain management using a biometric data collection device that could monitor physiological signals for pain.

The Rapid Ideation Proposal Competition was chaired by UTSW’s Walter Akers, Ph.D., D.V.M., Associate Professor and Research Director of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and other faculty members and judges from North Texas institutions. To promote cross-institutional cooperation, it began by randomly assigning students to one of eight teams. Each team then selected a health care problem to solve. Students could use artificial intelligence tools to support their own analysis and critical thinking. The eight teams were narrowed down to three finalist teams by UTSW faculty judges. The final teams presented their ideas before the audience, made up of symposium participants.

One of the teams proposed wearable technology that could accurately map chronic pain patterns and provide objective measurements. The device would monitor physiological signals that correlate to pain.

Also pitched was a diagnostic tool that could rapidly and accurately detect sepsis in its earliest stage using machine learning techniques to measure different biomarkers. Current detection methods often identify the condition too late for effective treatment.

6 diverse people smile and hold award certificates; from left: dark bearded man in black suit with white shirt, short dark-skinned woman with long dark hair, taller woman with black curly hair in gray sweater, dark-skinned woman with shoter dark hair, woman with long black hair in black suit, and dark-skinned man with short hair and glasses wearing black shirt

Winners of the Healthcare Challenge posing for a photo include (from left ) third place winner Michael Guerrero; second place winners Bhavya Vaish, Ikeda Trashi, and Ruchita Mahesh Kumar; and first place winners Ozge Ece Aydogan and Arindam Pal. Not pictured: First place winner Joshua Robinson and third place winners Zaina Rida, Kyle Owlett, and Aixa Andrade.

The competition was just one of the many activities offered during the two-day symposium, which included lectures and a poster session.

Ozge Ece Aydogan, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UT Arlington, said the event was not only educational and challenging but it also offered many opportunities to network and learn about the research of fellow students at the area’s schools.

“It was a memorable experience for me,” said Ms. Aydogan, who was on the first-place winning team with graduate student researcher Joshua Robinson of UT Southwestern and Arindam Pal of UT Dallas. “It was wonderful seeing other people who support what you are doing.”