CONTRACEPTIVE MICRO-NEEDLE PATCHES WON BME INNOVATION 2023

In the morning of June 3rd, 2023, TENSCAPE team became the champion of BME Innovation Competition 2023 with their idea of “Contraceptive Microneedle Patches”.

BME Innovation Competition 2023 is organized by IU School of Biomedical Engineering with the theme “For the innovative solutions in Biomedicine”. After 3 months of heated competition among 160 contestants with 54 projects from 06 universities and 06 high schools in HCM City, BME Innovation 2023 has successfully chosen 16 best projects, representing 16 teams/ individuals in the Final round

In the Final round, each individual and team will be allowed 5 minutes to present their project and product to the Judges. The Judges will give comments and raise questions to the teams in 5 minutes.Moreover, individuals and teams can also pose questions to other teams. The scores of each round are calculated by the average of the Judges’ scores based on the teams’ performance. The final score will be sorted from highest to lowest to decide the competition’s winners. During the competition, teams and individuals are required to have clear presentations to ensure the presentations’ quality.

In his opening speech, Prof.Le Van Canh – Vice-President of IU – recognized the encouraging achievements of the School of Biomedical Engineering: “Besides the missions of conducting scientific research, IU also focuses on growing research projects and innovations of its lecturers and students. For many years, the University has organized many competitions for innovations and gained many achievements at city-level, national and international level as well. During this journey, we acknowledge the great contribution of the lecturers and students at the School of Biomedical Engineering. Especially since 2022, many high school students have participated in the Biomedical Engineering competitions for innovations to propose ideas about community healthcare, novel medical devices, etc. These are all achievements of the School of Biomedical Engineering.”

Prof. Le Van Canh – Vice-President of IU – recognized the encouraging achievements of the School of Biomedical Engineering and BME Innovation Competition 2023.

Prof.Le Van Canh also expressed his gratitude toward the sponsors and hoped to further develop the partnership between IU and businesses. This year’s BME Innovation Competition was sponsored by MERCK LIFE SCIENCE VIETNAM and VT HEALTHCARE CO., LTD, and accompanied by the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer and IU School of Economics, Finance and Accounting.

Prof.Le Van Canh delivered the letter of appreciation and souvenirs to the competition’s sponsors.

Before the competition officially kicked off, Assoc. Prof.Nguyen Thi Hiep – Dean of IU School of Biomedical Engineering, Head of BME Innovation Competition 2023’s Organizing Committee shared her thoughts with 16 teams and individuals: “We have created a fair playground for all contestants, regardless of your institutions. Today, the Organizing Committee has chosen 5 members who are experienced in many competitions and fields to give the fairest judgments to the teams. So do your best, whether you win or not, this is the success of yours and yours only.”

Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Hiep – Dean of IU School of Biomedical Engineering, also Head of BME Innovation Competition 2023’s Organizing Committee encouraged 16 teams and individuals.

The heated competition lasted for 5 hours with many impressive presentations and excellent rebuttals. In the end, TENSPACE and their project of “Contraceptive Microneedle Patches” won the First prize. These contraceptive microneedle patches’ effect can last for 1 month with the mix of 2 hormones called levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. When in the body, these 2 hormones can slow down the egg cell’s maturity and indirectly prevent the sperm from entering and prevent fertilization.

Specially, the project was highly regarded for its profound societal meanings, most important among which is to make sure everyone has equal rights to their bodies, especially women in remote areas or those who lacks access to more expensive protection measures.

Prof. Vo Van Toi – Assistant of the School’s Managers of Healthcare Science’s Development – and Assoc. Prof.Nguyen Thi Hiep delivered the First prize to TENSACAPE team.

The runner-up was SCANOCUS team with their research of “Multiple Retinal Diseases Classification by Using Deep Learning on Fundus Images”. Early fundus screening is crucial in preventing visual impairment and blindness.However, clinical diagnosis is still facing many challenges. Some age-related diseases such as blindness, diabetes, cataracts, and macular degeneration with initial symptoms that are not visible can cause difficulties to accurate diagnosis at the early stage.The advancement of artificial intelligence has opened doors to treatment of fundus diseases. A convolution neural network-based model is used for the diagnosis of various retinal diseases by fundus imaging. The proposal model consists of 3 main parts: the data preprocessing phase, which includes data normalization and enhancement, the second phase is the modeling phase, and the last phase is the prediction. Fundus screening is an inexpensive and effective screening method to diagnose retinal disorders and track its progress.

Mr. Bui Anh Tu – Director of VT HEALTHCARE CO., LTD, President of the Business Advisory Council to IU School of Biomedical Engineering – delivered the Second prize to SCANOCUS team.

The Third prize was awarded to BMBOT team with their project called “Design and Build Self-operating Carts for Hospitals”. The product is made with a view to reducing the workload for healthcare workers during the pandemic, and the new normal phase. These carts are expected to support logistical tasks such as delivering medicines, transporting food – beverages, transporting medical supplies – waste, disinfecting and cleaning like a vacuum robot, or acting as a doctor assistant in providing patient data – updating information – storing conversations between patients and doctors.

Ms. Vo Thi Thuy My – Representative from Solution Scientist Merck Vietnam – delivered the Third prize to BMBOT team.

Specially, this year’s competition also offered a new award called “Best Young Talent”, which was awarded to Mr. Tang Ha Duy Anh, a student of HCMC Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted. He is one rare individual contestant that has made it to the Final round. With his impressive project of “Applying wave energy with the frequency of sound in water as a recovery system for patients with tendon injury”, Duy Anh convinced the Judges with a solution that offers patients an effective treatment method. Simultaneously, his project also introduces a treatment method that boosts the recovery speed. The method is also less painful, time-efficient, and cost-effective, which helps with patients’ rehabilitation. 

Dr.Tran Thi Ngoc Diep – Head of IU Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer – delivered the “Best Young Talent” award to Mr. Tang Ha Duy Anh.

The Consolation award was awarded to the teams: MeptiC, Dchip, BAD INTENTION, Biotenders. Other prizes such as “Entrepreneurial Talent” and “Rising Star” were awarded to BeeVee team and SCANOCUS team.