Student team developing efficient kidney stone removal device wins $50,000 at Duke-NUS innovation challenge
A student-led team developing a device to remove kidney stones more efficiently has won S$50,000 at Duke-NUS Medical School's Health Innovator Programme (D-HIP), advancing their prototype towards clinical validation. Professor Kenneth Mak, Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health, attended the event as the Guest-of-Honour.
In its fourth edition this year, D-HIP is a nine-month flagship programme designed to foster a culture of healthcare innovation by bringing together multidisciplinary teams of medical, engineering and business students to address gaps in patient care through research and commercialisation.
Unlike conventional hackathons, D-HIP pairs multidisciplinary student teams with clinical mentors from Singapore General Hospital and industry partners to translate real-world clinical needs into working prototypes and viable business concepts.
The programme culminated in a "Dazzle Day" showcase on 18 March 2026, where five multidisciplinary teams comprising 17 fellows from Duke-NUS, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, College of Design and Engineering at NUS, and NUS Business School presented their product prototypes and business plans to a panel of expert judges.
Team UroClear recognised the challenge to remove kidney stone fragments quicker and more thoroughly, reducing the need for multiple or invasive procedures. To achieve this, the team developed BiPass, a device that uses irrigation fluid to create a continuous suction flow, effectively flushing out multiple stone fragments during the procedure.
Team UroClear's Mr. Danny Lo (Class of 2027), a third-year MD student at Duke-NUS, said,
"Incomplete removal of kidney stone fragments can lead to additional procedures, prolonged discomfort, and a higher risk of complications for patients. By removing fragments more quickly and thoroughly, we can reduce the need for repeat or invasive interventions, helping patients recover faster and with less disruption to their lives."
The other four finalist teams presented innovations targeting colon stability during colonoscopy, total knee replacement, dialysis access durability and IV safety in children:
- a targeted pneumatic system designed to stabilise the colon during colonoscopy, reducing patient discomfort, procedural time, and physical strain on nurses;
- an enhanced surgical instrument providing real-time measurement and balancing of ligament tension during knee replacement surgeries;
- a device that can safely shave off excess tissue from narrowed dialysis access veins; and
- a smart device that detects and prevents complications, enhancing safety of children receiving intravenous (IV) therapy.
These four teams will work to raise more funding to develop their innovations, while being guided by clinical mentors from SGH and various industry mentors.
Assistant Professor Rena Dharmawan (Class of 2011), Assistant Dean, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke-NUS, and Senior Consultant, Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Singapore General Hospital and the National Cancer Centre Singapore, who oversees the D-HIP programme, said,
"When diverse young minds from diverse disciplines come together to tackle an unmet clinical need, that's when innovation happens. Our goal is to nurture the next generation of inventors, clinician-innovators and industry partners. In doing so, we are building a pipeline of industry-ready talent and leaders equipped to bridge gaps and drive innovation in the MedTech space."
In this run, Becton Dickinson Medical Products and Terumo Asia Holdings play key roles with an investment of S$50,000 to further bolster the academic innovation community and life sciences ecosystem, aligning expertise, resources and funding to translate early-stage ideas into real-world healthcare impact, ultimately benefiting patients.
D-HIP is just one of the research and innovation-intensive programmes available to Duke-NUS students. The School's medical education curriculum includes a critical component of research and scholarly work, helping students bridge scientific findings with patient-based solutions.
Associate Professor Christopher Laing, Vice-Dean, Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Co-chair of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medicine, Innovation Institute, said,
"At Duke-NUS, innovation is not an extracurricular activity, it is embedded into how we train doctors. Programmes like D-HIP ensure that our graduates understand not only disease, but also how to design solutions that can be implemented in real healthcare systems."
Duke-NUS is a global leader in medical education and a biomedical research powerhouse, combining basic scientific research with translational know-how to bring a better understanding to common diseases and develop new treatment approaches to improve the lives of people in Singapore and beyond.
Provided by Duke-NUS Medical School
