Recently, two teams from the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design were recognized at HopStart 2026, an annual entrepreneurship competition that challenges Johns Hopkins students to transform innovative ideas into viable ventures through business strategy development and live pitches to industry leaders.

Among this year’s standout ventures was Lumenate Medical, which earned 1st place and a $5,000 prize in recognition of its innovative approach to bladder cancer screening technology.

Lumenate Medical is a CBID-based team developing an AI-enabled cystoscopy platform designed to improve access and efficiency in bladder cancer screening. Traditional cystoscopy procedures require urologists to both perform the procedure and interpret images in real time. Lumenate’s technology aims to decouple image acquisition from interpretation, enabling trained non-urologist providers — including physician assistants and nurse practitioners — to perform cystoscopy procedures more efficiently while maintaining comprehensive visualization capabilities. The Lumenate Medical team includes Eleanor Kimbro, Lauren Lee, Jack Darbonne, Haley Slosberg, and Anand Vaish, who will continue advancing the project in the coming year.

In addition to Lumenate Medical’s success, another CBID team, Elevair, earned 2nd place in the Medical Technology Ventures Track for its work in non-invasive neuromodulation for on-demand relief of refractory dyspnea. Elevair is focused on addressing one of the most challenging and underserved symptoms in medicine by developing technology that empowers patients with rapid, patient-controlled symptom relief. The team’s work highlights the growing intersection of engineering innovation, patient-centered care, and translational medicine. The Elevair team includes Luis Fernando Gonzalez Gonzalez, Purva Gupta, Eun-Soe (Colette) Lee, Nishtaa Modi, and Sanjana Ramanathan.

The success of both teams at HopStart reflects the entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary culture fostered at CBID, where students work to translate unmet clinical needs into impactful healthcare technologies.

Check out and connect with Lumenate:
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