Hopkins BME student design teams selected for VentureWell’s Winter 2026 E-Team Program Cohort

Biomedical engineering student design teams BlueHealer, Ilytra Medical, and UrInControl have been selected to participate in VentureWell’s E-Team Program, which supports early-stage science and technology ventures.

The BlueHealer and Ilytra Medical teams will start in the Pioneer stage, which helps student innovators bring their high-impact solutions to market. Each will receive a $5,000 grant and training to help them refine their business models, explore market opportunities, and bring their innovative ideas closer to real-world impact. The UrInControl team advances to the Propel stage, receiving an additional $20,000 in funding and three months of expert-led training to fine-tune their business models and validate their business hypotheses.

BlueHealer: Orthopedic device that saves limbs

Formed in the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID), the BlueHealer team is creating a novel orthopedic device to treat Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia (CLTI), a condition for which blood flow cannot be restored to the limb leading to a high risk of amputation. Their technology harnesses the body’s natural healing response to grow new blood vessels, restore blood flow, heal chronic wounds, and ultimately save limbs.

The team includes graduate students Mitchell Lipke and
Jay Tailor.

“The grant directly supports our prototyping efforts, and the workshop strengthened our entrepreneurial skill set particularly around economic value creation, understanding decision-maker perspectives, and storytelling,” said Tailor. “We’re grateful to the VentureWell team for their support and we look forward to applying these learnings as we continue advancing our innovation toward patient impact.”

UrInControl: Discreet relief from urinary incontinence

The UrInControl team is developing a simplified solution to female stress urinary incontinence (SUI)—involuntary urine leakage triggered by physical exertion. Their over-the-counter vaginal orthotic support device is shaped like a tampon, to offer familiar and discreet support. It can be easily inserted, removed, and sanitized.

The team includes undergraduate students Lily Liu and Aadit Walia; and recent graduate Alex Chao, Engr ‘25.

“During the Propel stage training, VentureWell mentors challenged us to develop a more robust business model. We identified key assumptions and hypotheses related to customer adoption and market entry, and we are actively testing those hypotheses through ongoing customer discovery,” said Chao. “We hope that these insights will enable our team to translate engineering and clinical insight into a scalable, impact-driven medical device venture.”