8th Open MIC Night winners

The 8th Open Medical Innovation Challenge Night winners with Provost's Proof of Concept honorees (Photo by Cherly Gerber)

Tulane University students, researchers and staff pitched early-stage ideas to address medical, wellness and health challenges to a panel of judges and a packed house of more than 150 supporters at the eighth Open MIC Night on Oct. 20 at Rosy's Jazz Hall.

Open MIC Night, short for Open Medical Innovation Challenge Night, is presented by the Robert L. Priddy Innovation Lab at the Tulane Innovation Institute in partnership with the John W. Deming Department of Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine. It is open to anyone with a current Tulane affiliation, from undergraduates to faculty members and recent alumni. More than 38 people representing seven Tulane schools applied to pitch this semester. Ten finalists took the stage, and all applicants are invited to the Innovation Institute for idea feedback and continued support.

Launched in March 2023, Open MIC Night is one of the Innovation Institute's earliest programs. Past winners, including Informuta, Cleaved Diagnostics, Exactics and LumaWave, have gone on to raise millions of dollars in grant awards and investment funding. Since the program launched, the Innovation Institute has awarded more than $22,000 in prize money and received more than 200 ideas from across the university.

Kimberly Gramm, the David and Marion Mussafer Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at the Tulane Innovation Institute, and Victor Thannickal, professor of medicine and the Harry B. Greenberg Chair in the John W. Deming Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine, served as emcees.

Thannickal opened the event by saying New Orleans is known worldwide for its special events and music and that one day it will also be known for its biotech economy. He encouraged participants to think differently and imagine discoveries that could make New Orleans and Tulane forces for change around the world.

Three first-place teams received $1,000 each, while the fan favorite received $500. Three of the four winning projects addressed women's health.

Courtney Carroll, Helen Craft, Katie Griffitts and Arieana Talavera, undergraduate students in the School of Science and Engineering, won for Buckle Up Baby, a project that aims to reduce the risk of fetal injury or death for pregnant people in motor vehicle collisions while maintaining the effectiveness of a vehicle's existing safety restraints.

Mashaal Syed, an MD/PhD student at the School of Medicine, won for a pneumatic insole designed for people with Parkinson's disease who experience freezing of gait, a condition in which neurological disruption prevents a patient from moving their feet forward. The insole is customizable, uses smart fabrics and is compatible with neuroimaging.

Aicha Keita, an undergraduate in the School of Liberal Arts and the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, won for EcoTress, a plant-based braiding hair brand she founded. EcoTress aims to offer a sustainable, safe and affordable alternative to synthetic braiding hair, which is used mainly by women. Keita said the product eliminates volatile organic compounds, scalp irritants, and heavy metals linked to increased cancer risk, which she said are found in many products on the market.

The fan favorite award went to Dima Bishara, a postdoctoral fellow in the Tulane Research Innovation for Arrhythmia Discovery Center at the School of Medicine, for a wearable device that detects early warning signs of postpartum depression.

Other finalists included School of Science and Engineering undergraduates Charlie Kelso, CK Kang, Joseph Agler, William Casciano, Catherine O'Donnell, Zev Gaslin and Luke Wheeler; PhD student Isabella Posey; Marko Salvaggio, professor of practice in the School of Professional Advancement; and Tenghuan "Talia" Ge, senior project manager at the School of Medicine.

Ge received a $50,000 Provost's Proof of Concept award at the event for an artificial intelligence and laboratory platform aimed at improving the development of medicines that treat brain diseases and rare immune disorders safely and effectively.

Event judges were Sonia Kamboj, founder of Breathe Easy Allergy and Asthma; Andy Wetzler, co-founder of MoreVisibility; Sylvester Johnson, senior capital access manager at Propeller; and Daniel Fort, director of clinical research at Ochsner Health.

The next Open MIC Night will be held in spring 2027, with applications opening Jan. 25, 2027. To learn more about the Tulane Innovation Institute and its programs, or to apply, visit innovation.tulane.edu/programs.