A group of BBT PhD students wins the Dermachallenge of the Healtech 2030 Innovation Challenge

A group of PhD students made up of four students from BBT (Daniel Cabrerizo, Paula Urdalleta, Raúl Agut and Shana Jin) and one from  CIEFMA (Diego Ruiz) from UPC were the winners of the Dermachallenge, proposed by Almirall, at the Healtech 2030 Innovation Challenge, under the name Gentledreams.

Gentledreams consists of a double-double layer device. A dermatological double layer with a sensor that, upon detecting a variation in the main physiological parameters associated with a scratching event (basal temperature, heart rate and sleep cycle), activates by releasing heat. At the same time, a dressing (a poloxamer) placed on the patient's skin, when it feels this heat, changes phase and releases menthol, with a cooling effect. This combination succeeds in preventing patients from waking up. On the other hand, the second double digital layer, through another application, allows doctors to assist patients telematically, and users to share recommendations with each other and follow their own evolution.

A second team, ItchAway, also with a majority of  BBT members (PhD students Mariola Cano, Nerea García de Albéniz and Sílvia Gómez) and Maria Pau Pijoan from Universitat de Lleida, accompanied them as finalists of the same challenge, which was to improve the sleep of people who suffer from chronic itching.

The ItchAway team proposed as a solution a digital therapy for young people with chronic itching to prevent and entertain during an episode of scratching thanks to an app and a smart watch, as well as personalized monitoring of the affected areas through an assistant virtual and photography.

The Healthech 2030 Innovation Challenge is an innovation challenge organized by Xartec Salut. A 3-day event that offers the opportunity to solve real challenges that will contribute to improving healthcare and people's quality of life through technology, while promoting disruptive innovation by generating new ideas under methodologies of 'open innovation in a collaborative ecosystem between students, researchers, patients, companies and hospitals.