Pediatric Medical Innovations Focus Of Aggies Invent

Dehydration is the second leading cause of death in infants, but what if a simple pacifier could prevent it? Student team DeHydraTect has developed a dehydration-detecting pacifier for just this cause through Aggies Invent: Pediatric Medical Applications.

Aggies Invent promotes an innovation and entrepreneurial mindset among students at Texas A&M University. It gathers invited students, provides them with the needs statements submitted by sponsors, allows them to self-select teams, gives them access to industry mentors and support from the Engineering Innovation Center (EIC) to create solutions and prototypes in 48 hours.

The focus of the most recent Aggies Invent was Pediatric Medical Applications. Texas Children’s Hospital, Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) and Accenture sponsored the weekend’s event. Partnering with doctors and researchers from each of the sponsors, needs statement related to medical equipment, patient comfort and diagnosing and correcting health problems were created. Teams were tasked with enhancing the effectiveness of care and comfort for infant and child patients.

More than 130 students applied for Aggies Invent: Pediatric Medical Applications and 62 were selected to participate. The students ranged from freshmen to doctoral candidates. Most participants are engineering students, but the group included medical students and a variety of other majors. Engaging different disciplines fosters development of solutions that are truly innovative and creative.

The winning team, DeHydraTect, was comprised of Scott Herting, Magy Avedissian, Jose Wippold, Grace Fletcher and Nga Tang. The pacifier they created contains a saliva analysis channel using biometric sensors to detect dehydration through detection of the variation in salinity. The pacifier relays data to a mobile or computer application for parents and doctors to analyze.

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