HEALTHTECH INNOVATION SCOOPS NATIONAL AWARD

A wearable piece of technology that could help to track and treat a chronic hormonal condition has won a prestigious national engineering award.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects one in ten women in the UK, causing irregular or no periods, weight gain, excess body hair and infertility. Patients often feel unsupported due to lack of treatment options and follow-up care.

A team from Imperial College London is developing a wearable sensor – PCOSENS – that continually tracks female hormones specific to PCOS in real-time, with data displayed on a mobile app that maps menstrual cycles. It allows users to track their condition in response to medication or lifestyle changes, predicts ovulation and enables health professionals to make more informed decisions about treatment plans.

On Friday 3 November, the team picked up the Best Presentation Award at the Engineering in Business Champion of Champions event, winning £1,000 from sponsors PurpleCV in the process.

PCOSENS has been designed and developed by PhD Bioengineering student Saylee Jangam, who herself is a PCOS patient.

Saylee said: “We’re very happy to have won the Best Presentation award – it’s great to have had the experience to pitch our business to the judges and receive feedback.

“Tracking will allow patients to feel more informed and in control of their PCOS, with greater confidence that they will receive the care they need without having to wait months for a follow-up. Knowing your hormonal changes over time will allow people like me to understand our PCOS better and allow us to tailor and optimise our lifestyles.”

Saylee is supported by her advisors at Imperial College London, including Dr Sondes Ben Aissa, Professor Tony Cass and Professor Waljit Dhillo.

As well as the cash prize to help Saylee develop the business further, she also won a CV package from PurpleCV and entrepreneurial books from Cambridge University Press and Double your Price, a book by David Falzani MBE, which covers how pricing works with practical insights, tools and actionable guidance.

The event, which was hosted by TV presenter and engineer Rob Bell, is the culmination of a year of enterprise competitions held across UK universities, with thousands of undergraduate and graduates taking part.

Each year, Engineers in Business Fellowship champions business education for engineers and supports universities by giving them grants to award prizes to engineering students who develop ideas that can make a positive impact on society.