Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Low Cost, Adhesion Strength Based Cell Sorter, Emily Burtch, Franck Kamga-Gninzeko, Devin Mair, Sarah Saunders

Capstone Design Expo Posters

In many in vitro experiments, primary cells are harvested from an animal species to undergo experimental manipulation and subsequent analysis. Cell sorters are a luxury to have after cell harvesting to ensure pure populations of cells. Recently, it was discovered that different cell types adhere to cell culture dishes at different strengths. This observation was utilized in the invention of a cell sorting system that sorts cells based on this adhesion strength difference. The resulting system is marketable at under $2000, compared to $50000 plus for current commercially available systems, and is the first commercially-oriented cell adhesion strength based cell …

Small Animal Thermal Support Device: Thermoregulation System For Scireq Flexivent Chamber, Alexander Dickey, Ashkhan Hojati, Matthew James, Kathleen Vermillera

Capstone Design Expo Posters

During ventilation induced lung injury (VILI) experiments, anesthetized mice lose the ability to regulate their core body temperature. Without maintaining homeostasis, the experimental data may be compromised due to changes in the rodent’s internal functions. Traditional heating techniques utilize a water circulation heating system that is unable to fit inside flexiVent ventilator testing chambers. The objective of this project is to design and build an automatic thermoregulatory feedback system to regulate the core body temperature of a mouse inside individual testing chambers throughout the duration of the experiment. The project deliverables include a functioning prototype that achieves safe and effective …

Low Cost Sterilization, Karima Abutaleb, Mahreen Azam, Eric Lara, Sarah Tracy

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The lack of proper surgical tool sterilization is an increasing issue in developing countries. Inadequate sterilization leads to disease transmission, infection and even death. While autoclaves, the current golden standard for sterilization, are effective, they are often rendered useless after breaking as the cost to repair and maintain them is incredibly high. This leads to the dependence on insufficient techniques such as the use of diluted bleach. Diluted bleach, while effective for disinfection, leads to the destruction of surgical tools over time, does not destroy spores, and is unsustainable, as it loses potency over time which leads to its otherwiseunnecessary …

Pulmonary Patency Stent, Kranthidhar Bathula, Suraj Kandalam, Akhil Kolluri, Roshni Malik

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Patients with malignancies in the central airways often experience significant breathing difficulties due to occlusion of the airways. One common palliative treatment option for this is a stent placement procedure. While patients often experience immediate symptom relief, long term use can result in the formation of granulation tissue, causing restenosis of the airway. The objective of this project is to design and prototype a modification to the Boston Scientific Ultraflex partially-covered stent in order to reduce granulation tissue and maintain airway patency. Deliverables include the detailed design, a working prototype, and supporting data. The main product specifications include effectiveness in …

Design Of A Drug Delivery System Through The Gastrointestinal Tract, Kaixin Chen, Adel Husayni, Kayvon Mobarakeh, Ankit Soni

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) afflicts an estimated 5.3 million individuals and is the sixth leading cause of death in America. The drug delivery method of interest is an orally administered sustained-release delivery system that addresses the needs of the associated patient population. By augmenting drug delivery with a higher effective payload per dose compared to current methods, drug efficacy and bioavailability would improve. This will result in a decrease of the overall cost for medication as a greater percentage of the administered drug will be viable.

This design addresses the release of AD drug from the drug delivery system at the …

Catheter Attachment Device For Prevention Of Urinary Tract Infection, Ashleigh Mccormick, Brittany Allen, Karolina Stumbraite, Kevin Ball

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Hospital-acquired infections are costly occurrences that cause patients physical discomfort, have dangerous immune consequences, and cost healthcare providers hundreds of millions of dollars every year in liability fees and negligence charges. Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are the most common class of hospital-acquired infection, affecting over half a million patients in U.S. hospitals alone every year.The CAUTI-Guard team has designed a silver-coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) plug device that helps prevent CAUTI through its action as a physical and chemical block. The device slides along standard urinary catheters and helps block the migration of infectious material into the urethra and subsequently …

Suture Trainer: Improving Tissue Handling Technique, Albara Elshaer, Sindora Baddam, Veronica Peterkin, Millie Shah

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Tissue handling is fundamental to performing mechanical tasks of suturing and surgery on live humans and animals. While the mechanics of suturing can be taught, there is no available simulation product designed to specifically teach tissue handling skills. It is important as a future medical professional to gain better tissue handling skills in order to prevent unnecessary injury to the tissue via scarring. The suture trainer focuses on providing feedback in order to standardize tissue handling technique in order to prevent poor habits from developing. Our project deliverables included a model, working prototype, and test data collected from practicing physicians …

A Tilting System For Powered Wheelchairs, Liam Cornwall, Brandon Heath, Justin Mcdaniel, Alexander Stevenson

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of our project is to create a wheelchair platform that can tilt a power wheelchair and its user back into a nearhorizontal position. The purpose of this is to allow a dentist to work on the patient in the manner and position with which they are most accustomed.

The device currently used by our sponsor, The Virginia Home, is the Versatilt platform. The Versatilt is capable of lifting a maximum weight of 750 lbs. and tilting patients back, up to 65 degrees. However, the platform is too small to accept the power wheelchairs used by the majority of …

Mri Hip Joint Traction Device, Rawan Alfadly, Carla Gomez, Sara Um

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Radiologists commonly use contrast agents to improve resolution and acuity when employing MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Introducing MRI contrast agents to the tissue in the innermost part of the femoroacetabular joint is extremely difficult because the anatomy prevents the contrast agents from infiltrating those surfaces. Therefore, getting the ideal image resolution and making diagnosis of the hip is difficult. The objective was to design a product that would successfully distract one hip joint while also stabilizing the patient’s pelvis to improve visualization so that physicians are able to better diagnose the hip. The deliverables included a preliminary model that illustrates …

Iv Pole For Cardiac Surgery, Sindhu Marampudi, Natalie Noll, Madison Nowak, Rachel Wilbur

Capstone Design Expo Posters

IV lines and pumps need to be transported from the operating room to patient recovery with the patient after cardiac procedures. During this process, the weight of the IV pumps and the small wheels on the IV pole can cause the IV pole to become unbalanced and fall or bend due to the load. Due to a decrease in slack in IV lines to minimize IV line tangling, when an IV pole falls, this can result in the IV lines being torn out of the patient that can lead to blood loss and other injuries. In addition, IV bags and …

Marsupialization Catheter, Hamdi Abdeen, Ananya Mishra, Lucas Olson, Jacqueline Pinderski

Capstone Design Expo Posters

A significant issue among oral and maxillofacial surgeons is the treatment of cysts within the jaw. Cysts develop at random and in most cases asymptomatically. Therefore, they may reach enormous sizes before being diagnosed. Large cysts can cause severe damage to teeth and the surrounding bone. Doctors treat small cysts by surgically removing them. However, this approach is not ideal for large cysts due to the risk of surgical complications, the high expenses incurred, and the fact that it is often undesired by the patient. Current treatments include surgically opening the cyst and either suturing the tissue open or placing …

Sensing Movement In Endotracheal Tubes, Mary Anisa Kannan, Krista Powell, Navami Ravindra, Tiffany Wong

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project was to develop a device that would better secure endotracheal tubes (ETT), measure unwanted displacement, and notify caretakers when a dangerous amount of displacement has occurred. The project deliverables were as follows: a detailed design, a prototype, and a final demonstration of the prototype which shows successful ability to carry out the objectives stated above. The device needs to be small in size, expensive, flexible to allow for regular cleaning, yet strong enough to withstand stress. The final design consists of a small bite block holder and head straps to secure the device. The device …

Improved Device For Passive Foot Dorsiflexion For Prevention Of Dvt, Stephen Vinoba, Nigal Shah, Shreya Vatsala, Jawahar Baddula

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Postoperative patients are often too fatigued to walk around and often lay in bed for extended periods of time. This could lead to the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT is a condition where blood accumulates in the veins instead of being pushed back to the heart. This can cause the formation of blood clots that can eventually lead to pulmonary embolism resulting in death. DVT is a condition that affects about 900,000 people in the United States. Since it is such a prevalent condition, it is important to develop methods of prevention for this condition.

The aim of …

Prediction Device To Reduce Falls In The Elderly, Keegan Zacharie, Aaron Corbin, Joseph Switzer

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Complications arising from accidental falls are one of the leading causes of death among the elderly, with over 25,000 fatalities annually in the U.S.; a third of the elder population falls each year and a fifth of falls cause serious injury. We intended to mitigate these risks by producing a device capable of anticipating falls using biostatistical data.

Deliverables for our design included: An integrated accelerometer and pulse monitor to assess changes in motion and the physiological state of the wearer, a programmed algorithm capable of processing this data, and a mount to attach components to the patient.

Our constraints …

Minimizing Loss Of Balance And Falls With Personal Walkers, Michael Berger, Galen Kellner, David Le, Anthony Renninger

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Falls within the Older Adult community lead to roughly 734,000 hospital admissions annually with 87% attributed to walker use. In order to reduce the amount of falls due to walker use our objective was to create a system that detects an increased likelihood of a fall occurring, notifies the user of improper positioning, and can intervene by application of an automatic braking system to stabilize the walker; effectively training the user to have a more proper walking form and posture reducing the risk of a fall. In order to accomplish this goal, final deliverables included a working prototype and validation …

3-D Culture Systemfor Rapid Expansion Of Human Neural Stem Cells, Waleed Ilyas, Jeeyun Park, Dan Reep, Lawrence Talej

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Research into stem cells is a growing field of contemporary biology due to their extraordinary potential to develop into myriad cell types for use in regenerative medicine and research applications. Stem cells can vary from adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS. Due to the high potential for therapeutic applications, or individualized medicine, there is an increasing demand for stem cell quantities since a critical cell count must be met to demonstrate any therapeutic effect. The problem lies in the amount of time it takes to culture this critical cell count. Isolating fibroblasts in …

A Device For The Objective Assessment Of Adhd Using Eye Movements, Ankita Dosaj, Jefferson Overlin, Cassie Turnage

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder characterized by lack of focus, self-control,and hyperactivity. ADHD is difficult to diagnose without extensive observation by an expert, and even then is often misdiagnosed. Current methods of pediatric diagnosis rely on subjective measures of activity and behavior relative to other children [3]. Proper diagnosis is critical in preventing unnecessary prescription of the powerful, habit-forming nature of the drugs used to manage ADHD, such as Adderall and Ritalin [1][5]. Research has shown that patients with ADHD show abnormalities in reading tests and antisaccade tests, as these tests gauge ability to …

Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring System, Brittany Martinez, Brittany Noah, David Decker

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project is to create a non-invasive hypoglycemic alert system that will detect a drop in blood sugar in type 1 diabetics during sleep. This will be achieved by creating an algorithm that couples heart rate variability with skin conductance to increase the accuracy of hypoglycemia detection. The device will be housed in a torso strap that will include: electrodes located over the user’s rib cage, a skin conductance sensor placed in the user’s armpit, a microcontroller to collect and process the data, and vibrating motors that will awaken the patient if hypoglycemia is detected. Integrating the …

A Non-Contact System For Measuring Wrist And Carpal Kinematics, Shruthi Muralidharan, Kristina Hendel, Joseph Newton, Vivek Patel

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Ligamentous and bone injuries in the wrist affect tens of thousands of adults per year and leads to abnormal function. Surgical procedures as well as physical therapy intended to restorefunction have room for improvement. Measuring wrist kinematics of the small carpal bones is necessary to understand the effect of ligamentous injury during normal motion.Currently there are motion analysis systems that are used to track large scale movementfor total body kinematics such as gait analysis. The accuracy of these systems is catered toward capturing gross movement and cannot precisely measure on the order of millimeters necessary for carpal kinematics. There are …

Toy For Preschoolers With Deaf-Blindness, Allison R. Beckmann, Chelsea B. Gebs, Julia-Grace Polich

Capstone Design Expo Posters

There are approximately 70,000-100,000 people living in America that are diagnosed as deaf-blind. Since children with deaf-blindness are an extreme minority in the US, research, toys and technological advancements for these children get overlooked. As a result, the developmental processes of children with deaf-blindness are delayed by several years, compared to normal children, due to the lack of resources available to encourage learning. According to Virginia’s Department of Education standards of learning for preschoolers, development physically, mathematically,of environmental awareness and of a sense of self are core requirements for Kindergarten. Therefore, there is a need for a toy that will …

Flow-Cytometry Machine For The Developing World, Paul Howell, Jewel Nkwocha, Jaynie Laverty

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Flow cytometry provides critical diagnostic, measurement, and research applications across many healthcare and biological disciplines. Its use in the detection of blood-cancers, HIV/AIDS, cell differentiation, and viral detection is unique and unparalleled. Despite flow cytometry’s vast array of applications, its use is limited by expense. Rather than individual labs being able to afford a dedicated machine, core facilities are developed and the research is exported. In addition, flow cytometry’s high costs create a barrier to its implementation in developing nations.

There were 35 million people living with HIV in 2013, nearly 1% of the world’s population. There are more than …

Decellularization Of Porcine Lung Tissue, Kirsten Hulbert, Linh Ta, Lumumba Reid, Mahir Dagra, Baltej Dhillon

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Our project aims to standardize the decellularization of a porcine lung by creating a bioreactor to house the lung, automating the decellularization process and developing a protocol that will increase the precision and the repeatability of the process. Our deliverables include a working prototype, an automated system that will inform the user when the decellularization process is complete, a pressure sensor to control perfusion, and automated pressurized pulses that will increase the rate of decellularization.

Our accomplishments thus far include: a design for a working prototype that will decellularize a porcine lung, determining the proper rate to perfuse the lung, …

Device To Deliver Endodontic Material For Temporary Dental Fillings, Garrett N. Cyprus, Hisham Kamoun, Gireesh B. Reddy, Ali Salman

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Root canal therapy requires patients be treated over several visits to clean and shape the pulp chamber. In endodontic treatments, cotton wool is placed beneath the temporary filling to preserve the space of the pulp chamber and to prevent any blockage of the root canals with temporary filling between clinic visits. Despite its simple application and affordability, cotton wool can lead to fibrous remnants in the pulp chamber or become incorporated into the temporary filling, which can lead to micro-leakage or bacterial colonization on the cotton fibers and subsequent infection.

Gelatin capsules or silica gels are proposed endodontic materials which …

Independent Exercise Assistive Device For Individuals With Visual Impairments, Ashley Duke, Megan Goldberg, Lindsay Schnur

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Physical exercise is challenging for individuals who are blind because they lack the spatial awareness necessary to imitate described motions for exercises, and additionally require physical guidance. The current solutions involve tactile equipment to assist in body placement, but a person with low vision cannot compare their own position to the correct position and adjust properly. The proposed solution is an instructional yoga program that will give feedback to the user based on her exercise performance, allowing people who are blind to be able to perform these exercises independently at home. The design will incorporate the Skeletal Tracking program of …