H-Innova competition awards prizes to CIÊNCIAS ULisboa students

For two days, Funchal was the focus of attention for master's students in Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics who took part in the H-Innova - Health Innovation HUB business idea competition. And with good reason: last week, three teams of students from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) travelled to the capital of Madeira to take part in the master's project competition at the Digital Health Summit conference, which brings together investors, scientists and health professionals every year. On the outward journey, the researchers took with them a proposal to curb narcolepsy attacks, a prototype computer mouse equipped with sensors, and a device that curbs bruxism. The return journey brought smiles for the second place achieved by the NarcoWake project, third place for the TranquilBite project and the no less honourable classification for the Motis project in the final.

‘In the last three years, there have always been projects presented by CIÊNCIAS ULisboa' students in the top three places in this competition,’ says Nuno Matela, professor in the Department of Physics. ‘This master's degree follows a teaching model based on concrete and tangible projects that cover all aspects of the development of product proposals with market potential,’ adds the professor.

NarcoWake, TranquilBite, and Motis began to take shape in the Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics, which is coordinated by Brígida Ferreira, professor in the Department of Physics at CIÊNCIAS ULisboa. During the course, students are challenged to design products or services, while taking advantage of subjects that teach business plans, medical instrumentation principles, or the contours of digitisation in health, among other topics. Only the most advanced projects or those with developed prototypes participate in competitions such as H-Innova – NarcoWake, TranquilBite, and Motis had the support of the FCiências.ID association to go to Madeira. ‘The students of this master's programme are never confined to the Faculty,’ emphasises Nuno Matela.

NarcoWake, which secured second place in the pitch competition for master's students, is also indicative of the efforts of those who make a point of leaving the campus to learn about the real world. “We know that there are medications for narcolepsy, but we also found that there is nothing that can predict a narcolepsy attack in advance,” says Mariana Morais, a student on the Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics.

Narcolepsy is characterized by a sleep dysregulation that causes patients to fall asleep during periods of wakefulness. With NarcoWake, Mafalda Afonso, Mariana Morais, and Mariana Silva conceived a device that captures brain waves from the temporal regions of the brain to, with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), predict episodes of extreme sleepiness. The three researchers know that the project still needs improvement, but they maintain the expectation of creating a tool that detects a narcolepsy crisis two minutes in advance and emits vibratory alerts of about 30 seconds to keep the patient awake. NarcoWake benefited from the mentorship of Nuno Matela and professor Ana Prata, but the three master's students will not stop there: “We want to create a startup. We have already applied for a patent, but we know we have a long way to go,” says Mariana Morais.

TranquilBite also relates to sleep periods, but its goal is to prevent bruxism episodes with a blindfold that covers the eyes and stimulates facial muscles to avoid the teeth grinding that characterizes this nocturnal behavior. The project is mentored by Pedro Cebola, a doctor at CUF Tejo Hospital, Ana Margarida Mota, a professor in the Department of Physics, and Teresa Vieira, coordinator of the advanced training school comCiências.

“We are happy with the result in the competition. It shows that this project has potential, but it also means that we were able to present a business idea to an audience dominated by investors and healthcare professionals,” says Afonso Simões, a student who has been developing the TranquilBite project with colleagues Inês Correia and Rodrigo Dias during their master's degree.

The Motis project qualified for the final but didn't reach the podium – but it promises to make life easier for those who use a computer mouse. The project is based on a prototype with sensors that monitor hand posture, force exerted, and stress levels of the mouse user. Whenever it detects unhealthy postures, excessive force, or stress levels, the prototype triggers yellow LED alerts. In more damaging cases, the color turns red to signal the need to take a break to avoid injury or pain. The project also includes software for daily reports and metrics. “Ergonomic mice already exist, but we want to develop an intelligent mouse!” promises Sofia Lopes, a master's student at CIÊNCIAS ULisboa.

In addition to Sofia Lopes, the Motis project includes Beatriz Martins, Clara Neves, Madalena Tomé, and Martim Fernandes. Ana Margarida Mota, a professor in the Department of Physics, and Nuno Matela provided mentorship. The patent application has already progressed. “Of course everyone likes to win a competition, but we are happy to have made it to the final. The goal was really to learn from experts and establish contacts with investors and companies,” adds Sofia Lopes. Ingenuity will do the rest.