With the objective of making peritoneal dialysis (PD) safer for ESRD patients, the female-founded team of biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins University structure their effort around making home dialysis more accessible - achieving that objective by minimizing the risk of infection with their developed technology: PeritoneX. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a form of treatment for kidney failure allowing patients to receive treatment daily at homes versus their spending 15-20 hours a week in a dialysis clinic. However, PD is under-utilized as a treatment due to the risk of infection: with only 10% of patients using PD. The problem is an infection of the peritoneal membrane commonly caused by bacteria entering the patientÂ’s body from touch or air contaminations of PD supplies during treatment setup - an affliction occuring in 30% of patients and requiring hospitalization in 50% of cases. The assembled team of Johns Hopkins students originally pitched their medical device for safe at-home dialysis at a university demo day and- successfully that day - drew in financial support. Subsequently - in 2020 - the young team also took a $500,000 KidneyX Prize and also has participated in various global accelerators.
