UCLA Biodesign Teams Win First and Second Place at the 2026 UCLA Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Competition for Medical Device Innovations

Two UCLA Biodesign teams, EndoSight Systems and SparkHeal, earned top honors at the 2026 UCLA Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize Competition Finals on April 14, 2026. The competition recognizes innovative ventures addressing significant healthcare and societal challenges, with both teams receiving recognition for technologies designed to improve patient care and access to specialty services.

EndoSight Systems — First Place

EndoSight Systems earned first place for its development of an autonomous robotic system designed to expand access to nasal cavity and laryngeal examinations. The technology enables examinations to be performed in a wider range of clinical settings, with images and findings reviewed asynchronously by a remote specialist, helping improve access to specialty care.

The technology is being developed by Keer Zhang, a third-year medical student at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and a UCLA Biodesign Discovery Fellow. The interdisciplinary team also includes Derek Song UCLA School of Law, Serena Agrawal, UCLA Anderson MBA Program, and Evan Harber, Benjamin Forbes, and Mumbi Widy, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Faculty and clinical advisors include Jennifer Long, MD, and Dinesh Chhetri, MD, of UCLA Head and Neck Surgery; Veronica Santos, PhD, Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Faculty Affairs at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering; and UCLA Head and Neck Surgery residents Erick Vanstrum, MD, and Shady Soliman, MD.

SparkHeal — Second Place

SparkHeal earned second place for its development of a self-powered therapeutic dressing designed to support wound healing and tissue regeneration. By harnessing energy generated from the body's own movements, the technology delivers therapeutic stimulation without the need for an external power source, offering a potential new approach to treating chronic and difficult-to-heal wounds.

The project is led by Kanishk Rai, a UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellow and PhD candidate in bioengineering at UCLA. Rai developed the technology in the laboratory of Song Li, PhD, Chancellor's Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. The team also includes Vasav Shah, MS, a firmware engineer at Anuevo. Faculty mentors include Song Li, PhD and Jun Chen, PhD, associate professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.