SMU student & team are Dallas finalists in Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition

DALLAS (SMU) – A team led by SMU senior Eddie Allegra is headed to Miami as a finalist in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition, based on the business plan Allegra demonstrated for a mobile medical device designed to manage asthma.

The team representing BioLum Sciences presented their business plan to five judges and a live audience Nov. 16, and will now advance as Dallas finalists in the national competition. The 2016 GSEA global finals will take place in Bangkok, Thailand in May 2016.

The BioLum team includes Allegra, SMU junior Miguel Quimbar, and Jack Reynolds, who graduated from SMU’s Cox School of Business in May.

The regional competition was sponsored by the GSEA Dallas chapter.

The BioLum Sciences team won both the SMU Pitch Contest in 2014 and the SMU Business Plan Competition in 2015. BioLum Sciences is the developer of a mobile medical device that allows people with asthma to test their symptoms, monitor daily progress, and understand the cause of their asthma. BioLum uses a smartphone based imaging system to detect and quantify the disease biomarkers found in the user’s exhaled breath.

This technology has the potential to reduce the current 40% misdiagnosis of asthma in the US, Allegra says.

Allegra credits his start in the business to a friend in SMU’s Entrepreneur Club who first told him about the research and patent for the asthma-screening device that was being created on the SMU campus. As the idea grew, Allegra assumed a prominent role in its development and became the spokesperson for BioLum after winning an on-campus pitch contest.

The Nov. 16 event ended with an award ceremony for Allegra and his team. He will present his plan for BioLum Sciences in Miami in February 2016. Additionally, the team won prizes valued at more than $10,000 at the regional level, including a $1,000 cash prize, logo creation, and several mentorships to keep their business plan growing and thriving.

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