A team of Penn undergraduates won $10,000 in the 2025 Y-Prize competition with their proposal for commercial applications of the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s technology and research.
This year’s winning team includes Engineering sophomore Summer Cobb, College and Wharton sophomore Amanda Kossoff, College and Wharton sophomore Elizabeth Jia, and College and Wharton junior Aarsha Shah. Their proposal detailed an adjustable bile duct technology that maintains bile flow with readjustment through noninvasive magnetic reconfiguration, potentially decreasing the need for more surgeries and lowering discomfort.
Their project was mentored by gastrologist and professor Nuzhat Ahmad and co-sponsored by Penn Engineering, the Mack Institute for Innovation Management, Venture Lab, and the Penn Center for Innovation.
The team’s product, “Stentix,” utilizes Magnetic Origami Reprogramming and Folding System — a Penn-developed magnetic, self-reconfiguring “origami-style” material — to address the limitations of traditional biliary stents, which are thin tubes that are inserted into the bile duct to allow for proper bile flow.
However, these stents become blocked or dislodged, which requires invasive repositioning procedures. By integrating MORF technology, the Stentix stent can adjust its shape and structure in a noninvasive way, potentially reducing the need for additional interventions such as surgery.
“I was first introduced to MORF in my MEAM 2100 course, and I was fascinated by its adaptability,” Cobb said. “When our team began brainstorming for the Y-Prize, we explored how MORF could be applied in a clinical setting.”
Jia also noted that the team’s goal was to address a documented clinical challenge.
“We wanted to ensure our technology provided a solution for a pressing medical issue,” she said. “After speaking with over 20 gastroenterologists and endoscopists, we identified a need for a more adaptable biliary stent.”
Following their Y-Prize win, the team plans to further develop their prototype in collaboration with Penn’s GRASP Lab and seek additional funding through Venture Lab’s Startup Challenge and the Penn Center of Innovation I-Corps program.
“We’re looking forward to refining our design and conducting further research,” Shah said.
The 2025 Y-Prize finalists included Serpent, a robotic arm for tree trimming; Agentis, a pill-encased stent for gastric outlet obstruction; and EmBrace, a smart brace for breast cancer survivors with lymphedema. Past winners developed biodegradable menstrual flow sensors and innovative beer brewing methods.
“We chose to focus on biliary stents in particular … recognizing their significant potential to improve patient outcomes,” Kossoff said. “With a goal to reduce invasive procedures and address the serious risks of stent migration, particularly in patients with advanced diseases, we saw a unique opportunity to enhance both survival and quality of life.”
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