SensUs Student Competition 2024

Why?

Kidney failure, also known as renal failure, is a condition in which the kidneys lose their ability to filter waste products and excess fluids from the blood adequately. Monitoring creatinine levels is crucial for managing and evaluating kidney function, especially in individuals with kidney failure or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Regular monitoring of creatinine levels and other blood tests and assessments helps healthcare professionals tailor treatment plans for individuals with kidney failure to manage their condition effectively and maintain a good quality of life.

For whom?

Teams usually consist of 10 to 15 students, partly with a (bio)chemical and partly with a technical/equipment background. One or two students with a business /marketing background will be of help in finding companies to sponsor the team and to explore entrepreneurship. Communication can also help creating exposure for the team and the solution. The Challenge is open to BSc and MSc students from WUR and is largely extracurricular. We estimate a required investment of around 4-8 hours per week.

What's in it for you?

This is a great opportunity to create real impact, as you and your team will work on solving a "real life" problem. Collaboration, team building, as well as creativity and innovative thinking will be needed and developed during this challenge. You will be supervised by BIP, BNT, and WFBR groups. To cover part of your time investment, there will be the option to obtain credits either via a Capita Selecta or by following the Student Challenge courses (YWU-51803 and YWU-52309). Individual solutions can be found in consultation with the academic supervisors.

What is the Sensus Competition?

The International SensUs Student competition is a coalition of approximately 20 national and international universities whose goal is to stimulate the development of Point-of-Care biosensors. This is achieved by organizing a friendly competition where students design and fabricate innovative biosensors. In the last two editions, the team from Wageningen University & Research came second in the Analytical Performance category! Each year, the SensUs team chooses a societally impactful indicator of health as an objective in collaboration with different stakeholders. This year, the selected biomarker is creatinine, a marker for kidney failure, with the added challenge that the biomarker should be detected continuously.

Interested to improve patients’ lives?

If you are interested in the challenge, contact johannes.hohlbein@wur.nl to join like-minded students on MS TEAMS.