Congratulations to our 2025 TBMC Winners!

Rob Lalka holding the TMBC prop check with the winning venture MadLab presenters Skye Lam, from Harvard University, and Vienna Sparks, from Columbia University.

First Prize: $75,000

MabLab, Columbia University and Harvard University

MabLab is the first at-home rapid test strip capable of screening for the five deadliest lacing agents, which accounts for 91% of overdoses from laced drugs — resulting in more than 1.5x increase in testing efficacy over current products on the market.

Second Prize: $30,000

Exactics, Tulane University and University of Chicago

Exactics has created QuickLyme® which is a lab-free rapid test that allows users to test ticks on themselves or their pets. Exactics is an affordable, 15-minute diagnostic solution that can not only determine if the tick is carrying Lyme disease, but whether the tick has actually transmitted the disease.

Third Prize: $20,000

TranscribeGlass, Yale University and Cornell University

TranscribeGlass is the world's first smart glasses designed for people with hearing loss, providing real-time subtitles for conversations. Lightweight, comfortable, and discreet, it delivers over 93% accurate speech recognition with <300ms latency—even in noisy, multi-speaker environments.

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