Nerve Ninja: UW-Madison engineers devise tool to limit nerve damage in surgery

That’s the thinking behind a group of UW-Madison engineers whose invention aims to make surgical incisions easier and reduce the incidence of accidental cuts from free-floating scalpels.

Combining two traditional surgery tools — a forceps and a scalpel — into one, Lauren Fitzsimmons, Molly Paras and Zach Spears have perfected the “Nerve Ninja.” They are the first Badger biomedical engineering team in a dozen years to qualify as a top-five undergraduate finalist in the National Collegiate Inventors Competition.