MS app for children gains prize in tech design event
A biomedical science student in her first year at Monash University is part of a team that has come third in the exciting MedHack innovation hackathon.
The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s (BDI) Rachael Lambden was one of four students in the multidisciplinary team, which came up with the idea of an app to inform and assist children with parents who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
MedHack: Enabled, held in early May to a sell-out crowd of 200 people, had the theme of Assistive Technology. Contestants were matched with a “co-designer”, someone with experience with disability, and were given 48 hours to build something addressing the challenges faced by them.
“Teaching children about MS can often be time-consuming and can require emotional/physical robustness and be emotionally taxing,” Rachael said.
“We have designed an interactive, customisable iPad game that aims to increase awareness and empathy for the children of parents with MS,” she said.
“The game is entirely customisable to allow the child to visualise the character in the game as their parent.”
“This includes customisation of an avatar and of the specific symptoms faced by the parent. The game allows the child to run through scenarios that the adult may face, helping familiarise the child with these situations and better understand their parents’ needs.”
To add to the high-pressure task of developing an idea from scratch, the team in which Rachael worked changed ideas halfway through the two-day sprint.
“We were surprised we came third given the short period of time we had to work on the idea and the fact that none of us have an engineering background,” Rachael said.
Rachael said the experience has opened her eyes to new career options.
“In studying biomedicine, I knew about careers in research and post-graduate medicine but was interested in exploring other options. I thought this could be a nice challenge to see if generating ideas is something I could do,” Rachael said.
“It’s given me a lot more confidence to look down the entrepreneurial path and confidence in myself that I could do that if I want to. There are so many doors open in that area,” she said.
“Now I’m more keen on doing biomedical engineering.”
Founded in 2018 by Monash engineering/biomedical science students Darren Rajit and Santiago Beltran Diaz, MedHack is part of the student-run initiative Monash Young MedTech Innovators (MYMI), an interdisciplinary group of more than 400 med-tech enthusiasts who share a passion for creating new biomedical technologies that make a direct difference to people’s lives.
It fosters opportunities for collaboration and connections with industry and gives students insight into alternative career pathways in biomedical innovation and medical technology. MYMI holds a number of events throughout the year.
About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the newly established Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.