As juniors, Rui Jing Jiang W18, Adarsh Battu W18, and Brandon Kao ENG18 entered the Y-Prize, a competition that challenges students to commercialize Penn-developed technologies. They came up with VisiPlate, an ultra-thin nanoplate implant made of long-lasting aluminum that will treat mid- to late-stage glaucoma—the second most common cause of blindness globally.

They refined VisiPlate through Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship’s VIP-X accelerator and a seed grant from Penn’s Singh Center for Nanotechnology, where they made nanoplates for testing. Now, as winners of the $100,000 President’s Innovation Prize, they’re working with an expert team to bring the product to the clinical stage.

Read more from the Watchlist.