Sacramento State’s biotechnology team took home first place in the first Idea-to-Product Early Stage Commercialization competition hosted this month in Santa Clara.

The competition was held at the Program’s 24th Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium in one of the biggest technology-based cities in the Silicon Valley. It was reported there were around 600 CSU students and faculty members from all 23 of the system’s universities in attendance for the competition.

The winning Sac State team consisted of engineering students Neil Gee and Jose Camacho Jr., as well as business students Rebecca Dalton and Michael Hebert. Two engineering students, Jakira Jekayinfa-Brown and Jeevan Bhungal, also helped the team while attending the competition.

The team spent several weeks coming up with a product to market and ended up creating a device that prepares stem cells extracted from diabetic patients to be then injected in the patients’ feet to improve circulation. The purpose of the computer-controlled device is it will help reduce the chance of amputation in diabetics with weak foot circulation.

According to information gathered from iVillage.com, 60 percent of all lower-leg amputations not related to an accident are related to diabetes, making the team’s device potentially significant for the medical field.

The combination of business marketing and bioengineering among teammates contributed to the victory.

“Our engineering students are working on the design as their two-semester capstone project,” said professor Warren Drew Smith. “So they had a functioning prototype ready to show at the competition.”

The goal of the competition was to encourage “the integration of coursework, hands-on practice and participation in multidisciplinary, team-based research projects” by presenting a product to market to a panel of judges.

“I am very proud of our engineering and business undergraduate students,” Smith said. “This successful collaboration opens the door to even more Sac State engineering and business entrepreneurial biotechnology development to help patients in need.”

The team competed against three other CSU teams from Jan. 5 to the final day on Jan. 7 when it was presented the first place award.

The award showed Emir Macari, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, that Sac State has one of the top Biomedical Engineering programs in the west.

“Sac State offered one of the first Biomedical Engineering programs in the entire western United States,” Macari said. “This win validates all the work we have undertaken to bring back Biomedical Engineering to the prominence once held by Sac State.”

The win is just as impressive for the engineering department as it was for the business department.

Dean of the College of Business Administration at Sac State Sanjay Varshney said he believes the win is strong testament for how well Sac State’s business program is compared with other CSUs.

“This is yet another example of high-level intellectual capital that combines business acumen and technical expertise that fuel the economic engine of the region. It also provides hope for the region’s future – all coming from Sac State,” Varshney said.

Russell Preston can be reached at [email protected].