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The victor of this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Contest is assisting advanced therapies in reaching more patients promptly with a novel type of drug-injection apparatus.
CoFlo Medical claims its affordable device can administer biologic medications over 10 times quicker than current techniques, expediting the treatment of various ailments, including cancers, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.
“For individuals fighting these ailments, every hour is crucial,” stated Simon Rufer SM ’22 during the victorious presentation. “Biologic medications are capable of addressing some of the most challenging illnesses, but their delivery is unacceptably time-consuming, restricting the patient’s autonomy and effectively keeping them anchored to their hospital beds. The necessity of a hospital environment also renders biologics nearly impossible to utilize in remote and underserved regions.”
Currently, biologic medications are predominantly administered through intravenous infusions, requiring patients to remain in hospital beds for hours for each session. This is due to many biologics being too thick to pass through a needle. CoFlo’s device facilitates rapid injections of biologic medications regardless of viscosity. It operates by encasing the viscous medication with a secondary, lower-viscosity fluid.
“Consider trying to push a fluid as thick as honey through a needle: It’s simply unfeasible,” remarked Rufer, who is presently a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Over six years of research and development at MIT, we’ve tackled numerous fluidic instabilities that have otherwise rendered this technology impossible. We’ve also secured patents for the core mechanisms of this device.”
Rufer presented the winning pitch to a packed Kresge Auditorium that included a panel of judges on May 12. In a video, he exhibited someone using CoFlo’s device to inject biologic medications with one hand.
Rufer pointed out that the secondary fluid in the device could be the buffer of the drug solution itself, which wouldn’t alter the drug formulation and could potentially expedite the device’s approval in clinical trials. The device can also be manufactured easily using existing mass production methods, which will help keep costs down.
In laboratory studies, CoFlo’s team has shown injections that are up to 200 times faster.
“CoFlo is the sole technology capable of administering thick medications while simultaneously enhancing the patient experience, minimizing clinical burdens, and lowering device expenses,” Rufer stated.
Honoring entrepreneurship
The MIT $100K Competition originated over 30 years ago when students, along with the late MIT Professor Ed Roberts, raised $10,000 to transform MIT’s “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) motto into a startup challenge. Over the years, with sponsor backing, the event has evolved into the esteemed, eagerly anticipated startup competition it is today, showcasing some of the most promising new ventures founded by MIT community members each year.
The event on Monday night was the result of months of effort and preparation by the teams participating. The $100K program began with student pitches in December and included mentorship, funding, and additional support for selected teams over the following months.
This year, more than 50 teams applied for the $100K’s final event. A network of external judges narrowed that down to the eight finalists who presented their pitches.
Other recipients
Along with the grand prize, finalists were also given a $50,000 second-place award, a $5,000 third-place award, and a $5,000 audience choice prize, which was decided during the judges’ deliberations.
The second-place award was given to Haven, an artificial intelligence-driven financial planning platform that assists families in managing lifelong disability care. Tej Mehta, a student in the MIT Sloan School of Management, delivered Haven’s pitch and shared his family’s own experience managing his sister’s intellectual disability to illustrate the issue.
“As my family prepares for the future, several questions keep us awake at night,” Mehta shared with the audience. “How much money must we save? What public benefits is she eligible for? How do we structure our private assets so she doesn’t lose these public benefits? Finally, how do we manage the funds and ensure compliance over time?”
Haven functions by utilizing family information and objectives to create a customized roadmap that can forecast care necessities and expenses over more than 50 years.
“We advise families on the precise next steps they need to undertake, what to apply for, and when,” Mehta clarified.
The third-place award was presented to Aorta Scope, which merges AI and ultrasound to provide augmented reality assistance during vascular surgeries. At present, surgeons must depend on a 2-D X-ray image as they insert a large stent into patients’ bodies during a common procedure known as endovascular repair.
Aorta Scope has created a platform for real-time, 3-D implant alignment. The solution integrates intravascular ultrasound technology with fiber-optic shape sensing. Tom Dillon engineered the system that merges data from these sources as part of his ongoing PhD in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Lastly, the audience choice award was given to Flood Dynamics, which offers real-time flood risk modeling to assist cities, insurers, and developers in adapting and protecting urban areas from flooding.
While most urban flood damage is currently driven by rainfall, flood models do not consider precipitation, leaving cities less equipped for flooding threats.
“Flooding, particularly rain-induced flooding, ranks as the costliest natural hazard worldwide today,” commented Katerina Boukin SM ’20, PhD ’25, who developed the company’s technology at MIT. “The price of remaining unaware of rainfall risks is indeed high. This issue is costing the U.S. alone over $30 billion annually.”
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