Houston-based Rice University bioengineering and mechanical engineering students have been named finalists in the 2025 Collegiate Inventors Competition for VacuTrac, a device designed to make spinal fusion surgery more efficient.
The tool combines multiple surgical functions into one platform, allowing two surgeons to work simultaneously on both sides of the spine, according to a Sept. 26 university news release.
This approach can shorten exposure time, increase precision and improve safety during spinal fusion procedures, more than 300,000 of which are performed annually in the U.S.
The VacuTrac team will present its innovation Oct. 16 before judges from the National Inventors Hall of Fame and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with winners announced the same day.
