By my own tears
St. Petersburg University summed up the results of the "Start-up St. Petersburg State University - 2019" competition
St. Petersburg State University Press Center
The first place, a prize scholarship of 300,000 rubles, as well as a grant of 1,000,000 rubles was awarded to the α-Tear-Test team, which is developing a system for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease by the composition of tear fluid.
"The report of American colleagues devoted to the study of the content of various proteins in the tear, including alpha-synuclein, gave us the idea to create an express test," said Vyacheslav Vetoshkin, the team captain, a student of the "Medical Business" direction. – We conducted preliminary studies using the same model as the Americans: we compared the levels of alpha-synuclein in the tears of healthy people and those suffering from Parkinson's disease to confirm the theory that it is an increase in the level of this protein that will be a diagnostic sign for this disease. And the results of these studies are quite optimistic."
Diagnostics thanks to the development of students can be carried out even at home. The analyzer works on the principle of a pregnancy test. It is based on an immunochromatography system, that is, "recording" the reaction of antibodies to a specific protein using colored stripes. To collect a tear, a strip with an indicator must be placed under the lower eyelid for a few seconds. The result will be available in 10 minutes. In the near future, students plan to create a prototype of a test strip and proceed to the tests. The team also included students of the direction "Medical business" Ekaterina Spiricheva and Alexander Khomenko, the direction "State and municipal administration" Maria Pechnikova and the direction "Jurisprudence" Danis Akhunzyanov.
The second place, a prize scholarship of 200,000 rubles and a grant of 700,000 rubles went to the In Sapiens team, which is working on a device that allows remote monitoring of the health of people with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, in the future, the development will help simplify the workflow in polyclinics.
The third place and a prize scholarship in the amount of 100,000 rubles was awarded to the Biotrek team, which develops a methodology for tracking the transportation of drugs inside the body without harm to human health. The main idea of the project is to replace protium, which is now part of medicines, with its non-radioactive isotope deuterium. Thanks to this, it will be possible to avoid the addition of heavy metals and iodine-containing organic substances to medicines.
It is not the first year that the winners of the competition are teams representing medical developments. The business sphere related to human health is indeed one of the most profitable today. In addition, St. Petersburg State University is actively developing the medical field, so the participants of the competition have the opportunity to consult with the best experts in this field.
Chairman of the Expert Council, Executive Director of the Target Capital Management Fund "Development of St. Petersburg State University" Evgeny Pen
The St. Petersburg State University Start-up contest is being held with the support of the University's endowment fund for the fourth time. This year, the organizing committee received 33 applications, 13 teams entered the second round of the competition, all participants of which received a scholarship from the St. Petersburg State University Endowment Fund (7,000 rubles each) for improving their ideas for four months.
"This year, according to my assessment, more than 60% of the teams scored 90 points out of 100," said Vladislav Zanin, the head of Okeanos. – This indicates that the guys took the projects seriously enough and did a real serious job. I want to say that those who did not make the shortlist actually have all the potential opportunities to implement their ideas."
Recall that the main requirements of the competition are to assemble a team of three to five students or graduate students of St. Petersburg State University in three different directions, as well as to come up with a high–tech and commercially promising project. The winners of each stage are selected by the expert council, which includes representatives of St. Petersburg State University and well-known businessmen.
"It's great that everyone who spoke has their eyes burning – they really want to do it," said Dmitry Peretz, Chief Specialist of the Integrated Design Department of the development of Gazpromneft STC LLC. – The wish for the participants is the same – even if you are not selected now and you do not get into the list of winners, continue to develop your ideas, implement what you want to implement, and in no case stop at what has already been achieved."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru