Judges selected UW Bioengineering team Believe Sleeve to move on to the final Investment Round in this year’s Dempsey Startup Competition, hosted by the UW Foster School’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship.

The Believe Sleeve team is developing a personalized device to speed relief to the 100 million people worldwide who suffer from phantom limb pain following an amputation. Currently, there is no standard treatment for phantom limb discomfort.

The device will both educate people about their limb and allow them to self-direct customized therapy.

The four Master’s of Applied Bioengineering students behind Believe Sleeve are Lindsey Fischer, Rei Mukai, Annika Sahota and Vivi Yu. The team’s advisors are Soraya Bailey, assistant teaching professor of bioengineering, and Dr. Yusha (Katie) Liu, a specialist in peripheral nerve surgery at UW Medicine. The team previously competed as finalists in UW’s Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge March 3.

In the Dempsey competition May 5, they will compete with students from 15 colleges and universities across the region and showcase their device for judges representing top area startups and investment firms.

Read more about the competition and the 36 finalist teams on the Foster Blog.

Good luck to team Believe Sleeve!

Pictured above, from left: Master’s of Applied Bioengineering students Rei Mukai, Vivi Yu, Lindsey Fischer and Annika Sahota at their Health Innovation Challenge showcase booth March 3.