Congratulations to Mackenzie Pugh, Shelley Edwards, Jordan Barnett, and Cody Bowerman for winning the Rural Reimagined Award of $500 last week for their project “Serious as a Heart Attack!” The team of chemical engineering and nursing students are working to create a device that tests for troponin, a protein that is released into the bloodstream when a heart attack is occurring or about to occur.

The device will be extremely helpful to those in rural communities with long waits for ambulances to arrive, as they can test their troponin levels to see if they are actually experiencing a heart attack or not. As Stephen Shepherd, a recent TN Tech graduate and one of the original team members states, “it would save everyone money and not waste viable resources that could potentially be used for other life-threatening emergencies.” The team will use the $500 from the challenge to continue researching and developing a prototype, and they’re excited for the device’s future! Wings up, "Serious as a Heart Attack!"

 

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