UCLA Biodesign Teams Win First and Second Place at the 2026 Bruin 1K Pitches

Two UCLA Biodesign teams, Ascend MedTech and SparkHeal, took top honors at the 2026 Bruin 1K Pitches, hosted by Bruin Entrepreneurs at UCLA on May 17, 2026.

Ascend MedTech — First Place

Ascend MedTech took first place for its work developing a new approach to managing aortic stenosis, a condition characterized by narrowing of the aortic valve, often associated with calcium buildup that restricts blood flow from the heart. The technology is being developed by Amara Onyiah, a UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellow and a third-year medical student at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, alongside teammates; Joseph Chang; UCLA Biodesign alumna Doris Cheng; UCLA alumnus Liv Heidenreich; UCLA School of Law student Adam Kobza; and advisor Radi Zinoviev, MD, an interventional cardiologist at UCLA Health.

SparkHeal — Second Place

SparkHeal earned second place for its development of self-powered therapeutic dressing. The team is led by Kanishk Rai, a UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellow and PhD candidate in bioengineering at UCLA. Rai developed the technology in lab of PI, Dr. Song Li, Chancellor's Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, as well as Vasav Shah and Jun Chen, PhD, associate professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.