‘Brainstorm 2018’: the premier biomedical competition in Sri Lanka organized by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Student Branch Chapter of the University of Moratuwa (IEEE EMBS at UoM) was successfully held on the 05th October at the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka. While sharing the vision of IEEE EMBS on creating a link between science and life science, creating innovations in healthcare technology for the benefit of all humanity this competition focus on encouraging the undergraduates of both medical and engineering disciplines to collaborate on solving problems in the fields of biology and medicine.
The competition proved its success with the participation of 25 teams consisting of students from various disciplines such as Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, Electrical and Information Engineering, and Computer Science and Engineering working together with an aim of solving health related issues. The judge board for the day consisted of a vivid combination of a representation of fields such as medicine, engineering and finance. Dean of the Medical faculty of Colombo, Consultant microbiologist Prof. Jennifer Perera, Faculty Advisor of IEEE EMBS at University of Moratuwa Dr. Anjula De Silva, Senior lecturer at University of Moratuwa, Dr. Simon Kappel evaluated the first round of the competition and the medical and engineering aspects of the product served as the main focus of the initial round. The final round was assessed by Dr. Nuwan Dayananda, the head of the department, Department of Electronic and Telecommunication of University of Moratuwa, Mr. Heminda Jayaweera, founder at Venture Frontier Lanka, Jendo Innovations, serial innovator and entrepreneur with the addition of Dr. Anjula De Silva and Dr. Simon Kappel from the first round. The competition was included with an innovation session on biomedical engineering and on the vitality of effective communication in the field, was conducted by Dr. Pujitha Silva, Senior lecturer at the University of Moratuwa and the director of Centre of Biomedical Innovations (CEBI).
The five team finalists presented innovative and extremely beneficial products to the development of healthcare. After many ground breaking presentations and the QnA sessions the team NephroSnap consisted with two medical students and an engineering undergrad representing University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa emerged as champions of Brainstorm 2018 for their product for urine protein measuring and monitoring system. The team biteCode from University of Peradeniya and team AD-MINI from SLIIT won the second and third places for their products infant sleep apnea detection system and memory improvement tool for Dementia Alzheimer’s patients respectively.
Brainstorm 2018 proved its achievement with the innovative and valuable concepts arose as solutions for the development of the healthcare sector. This is considered as an initial step taken towards a giant development of engineering in medicine and biology in Sri Lanka and in the world in the years to come.