Intended for use by healthcare workers, the bracelet will alter the wearer if it senses they have not washed their hands adequately. The bracelets will feature sensors able to determine if the wearer has followed the proper hand washing procedure, including how long they spent washing their hands and whether they used sanitizer or soap. The device will buzz once if the wearer has cleaned sufficiently and three times to signal a missed step. An RFID-based system can be incorporated...

A new medical dressing that lights up to signal an infected burn could help save young burn victims from potentially fatal infections. The dressing will be embedded with nanocapsules containing a fluorescent dye. The capsules will be designed to burst open in the presence of bacteria, releasing the dye that can be detected by UV light. Young children, with their weaker immune system, are particularly at risk of infected burns, and their wound dressings have to be removed to...

The Cooling Cure system will be an inexpensive option for cooling newborns and preventing possible brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) causes death in up to 50 percent of newborns and neurological damage in 25 percent of survivors. The effects of HIE can be mitigated by lowering the newborn's body temperature and maintaining it at a specific range. The Cooling Cure device will be made of a clay pot with a plastic-lined basket and...

A new implant will allow blood to be analyzed from within the body which will lead to better treatments for the chronically ill. The device will contain five sensors able to detect up to five proteins and organic acids simultaneously. An imbedded radio module will wirelessly transmit the blood testing results to the doctor over the cellular network, allowing continuous monitoring based on the individual. This more personalized feedback will be particularly useful to oncologists as...

I suggest a new, minimally invasive method for treating Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. Currently, the method for treating AIS involves a long and expensive surgical procedure. In contrast, the new system will consist of a small ratchet mechanism implant attached to the center of the main spine curvature. The implant will use only two screws and the implant procedure will create a much smaller scar than current methods. After the hour-long surgery, the patient then will undergo...

The portable dialysis machine will be designed to overcome some of the obstacles of home hemodialysis by allowing patients to go through a dialysis cycle while sleeping. Hemodialysis usually requires weekly, time consuming sessions attached to an immobile device. In contrast, the new machine will be portable enough to use throughout the home or even while traveling. It will be designed to be easy to use, with a drop-in cartridge, simple plumbing and electrical connections, and 27/7...

A bioelectric signal able to identify cells likely to become tumors could also help to suppress tumor growth. It was found that the tumor sites could be recognized by a distinct bioelectric signal due to their depolarized membrane voltage. If the bioelectric code is changed to hyperpolarize the tumor cells, the abnormal growth will be slowed.

Levitating cells to create a 3D culture could lead to the development of more realistic lab-grown lung tissue. The idea is to insert magnetic nanoparticles into the lung cells and then manipulate them with magnets as the cells grow and divide. This will allow combining four types of cells to create a layered bronchiole tissue with the same biochemical signature as native tissue, which will enable more efficient toxicity tests.

Creating bone implants made of wood instead of traditional materials, such as plastics and ceramics, is both cost-effective and could help to reduce the risks of side effects. The idea is to use bone implants made from rattan wood. Because rattan wood has flexibility, strength and density similar to bone, it could be used as a scaffold for transplanted cells to replace damaged and lost bone. Although processing the wood to make it compatible with humans is complex, the...

The idea is to develop a new microfluidic device able to quickly perform a blood screening for up to fifty biomarkers at once. The chip will be larger and will have more channels than conventional microfluidic devices. Still small enough to be carried in a pocket, the V-chip (volumetric bar-chart chip) will consist of a pair of thin sheets of glass sandwiching wells for: hydrogen peroxide; up to 50 different antibodies to specific proteins, DNA or RNA fragments, or lipids of...