Congratulations to this year’s Y-Prize winners, Stentix! The team proposed a bile duct stent that can be adjusted noninvasively, helping to maintain bile flow without additional surgeries.
A biliary stent is a small, tube-like device inserted into the bile ducts to keep them open and allow bile to flow from the liver to the small intestine. These stents are used to treat blockages caused by conditions such as pancreatic cancer, gallstones, or complications from liver transplants.
However, biliary stents can easily become blocked or dislodged. Doctors typically replace or reposition them through invasive and uncomfortable procedures like endoscopy. Stentix addresses this problem by allowing noninvasive adjustments to the stent’s position and diameter using magnetic reconfiguration. You can read more about their technology here.
Stentix was awarded the $10,000 grand prize after presenting their business plan and fielding questions from a panel of expert judges from academia and industry. The team members are Summer Cobb (SEAS), Amanda Kossoff (Wharton), Elizabeth Jia (Wharton), and Aarsha Shah (Wharton). Stentix makes use of MORF, a magnetic, self-reconfiguring “origami-style” material invented in Penn SEAS’ Sung lab.
Other finalists were Serpent (who proposed a flexible, remote-controlled robot arm for tree trimming), Agentis (who proposed a pill-encased stent for gastric outlet obstruction) and EmBrace (who proposed a smart brace for breast cancer survivors with lymphedema).
For over ten years, the Y-Prize competition has challenged students to build their entrepreneurial skills. Students team up to create business plans using technology invented at Penn Engineering. The team with the best commercial application wins $10,000 to help make their idea a reality. It is cosponsored by the Mack Institute, Penn Engineering, Venture Lab, and the Penn Center for Innovation.