Biomedical Devices and Instrumentation Commons^™

Advancing Prosthetic Design Using Neural And Mechanical Dynamics, Kacie E. Hanna

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Limb loss poses a significant challenge to mobility and the performance of daily activities. Currently, nearly half of the amputees using powered prosthetics abandon their device due to inadequate limb coordination and movement control abilities. In the healthy system, passive and neural dynamics facilitate the synchronized activation of muscles necessary for coordinated movement. However, in the amputee, the system is disrupted. The goal of this research is to use neural and mechanical dynamics to inform the design of prosthetic devices in order to restore intuitive control and coordinated limb movement.

The first aim of this research is to investigate neural …

Mouthpiece For Patients With Neuromuscular Disorders, Rebekah Starkey, Carissa Thompson, Michael Dickens, Andrew Pero

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Neuromuscular Disorders (NMDs) impact people throughout the world. An early hallmark of these disorders includes some degree of facial muscle weakness. Respiratory testing is important to evaluate the progression of these patients’ NMDs. However, these tests require that the patient purses their lips around a mouthpiece to create a tight seal. This is a difficult task for one with facial muscle degeneration. This often leads to results that fail to reflect the patient’s true respiratory ability and prevents their physician from providing the appropriate degree of care. The objective of this project was to develop a face mask or mouthpiece …

Side Cutting Biopsy Needle For Endoscopes, Cade Smarr, Ella B. Brinkman, Christine Skakun, Vincent Grosso

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Develop a side cutting biopsy needle that fits through the working channel of the endoscope similar to stereotactic needle with syringe suction to overcome the small biopsy samples due to instrument size limitations. The problem users are facing is that the biopsy samples through the endoscope are small secondary to instrument size limitations. The idea for this problem is to develop a side cutting biopsy needle that fits through the working channel of the endoscope similar to stereotactic needle, syringe suction.

Enhancing Dental Aligners With Direct 3d Printing Manufacturing, Erin Clark, Lauren Ickes, Tyler Madison

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Replacement of thermoforming with direct 3d printed aligners, molding appliances for dental and alveolar movement. Currently the process involved requires 3d printing models and plastic thermoforming, trimming and polishing to fabricate the end product. If possible a product that could be 3d printed that had stress retention, crack resistance, and stain resistance properties delivered in thickness between .030 and .040 inches.

Use Of Bioheat Modeling To Characterize And Optimize Implantable Medical Devices And Neuromodulation Technologies, Adantchede Louis Zannou

Dissertations and Theses

Medical device development includes prototyping, benchtop characterization, preclinical studies, and clinical trials. Understanding the limitations and potential adverse effects of medical devices prior to their administration in humans is a crucial first step. Optimizing medical devices is essential to employing technology and improving patients care. Computational modeling is widely adopted as a powerful tool to predict stimulation/recording parameter optimization, rapid electrode/device prototyping, investigating novel mechanism of action, and testing working principles of any medical devices. Many implantable neuromodulation technologies including Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), which provide substantial therapeutic benefit for patient population with lower back pain, produces heat via the …

Studying And Troubleshooting Lubricity Test On Pressure Wire X Proximal And Distal Coatings, Usama A. Khan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Coatings of guidewires used in medical device manufacturing industry are one of the most important element aspects. It defines its efficiency to penetrate through tightest of canals and curves. Guidewires are put through controlled environment to accelerate its age and tested for its mechanical features. Pressure Wire X failed the lubricity testing after being tested by multiple operators and at alternate sites. A cause-and-effect diagram shows all potential causes of test failure. The human factor involved in the test failure was investigated through multiple Gage R&R and training records. Calibration error with the lubricity tester DL1000 was identified and solved …

Mechanical Design Of A Microwave Imaging Device For Breast Cancer Detection In Mri Scanners, Grace M. Player

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This project seeks to develop an updated version of a microwave imaging device for use in conjunction with breast MRI, improving upon existing technology and developing novel concepts for the device. It posits three primary redesign targets for updating the previous system: resizing the system height, making the device more iteration- friendly, and improving the overall manufacturability of the device by replacing custom components with commercially available alternatives. All three of these redesign targets are met in the new design, V2.0. The height is reduced by reducing antenna travel and height, embedding some components, and shortening the tank wall, resulting …

Design And Fabrication Of A Force-Displacement Control Mechanism For Bone-Surgical Tool Testing, Kenneth Nwagu

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This project focuses on the design and fabrication of an experimental setup for orthopedic-tool testing, tailored for a surgical instrumentation company. The multifaceted project encompasses a literature review, conceptual design, prototyping, and rigorous testing, resulting in a versatile control system capable of assessing various orthopedic tools, including bone drills, saws, burrs, and power handpieces.

Orthopedic surgical procedures (which include cutting and/or drilling into bone) often need to be performed on bones for faster recovery. The drilling and cutting process can cause an increase in temperature at the cutting site which can cause bone necrosis. The tools also need to be …

Zinc Oxide Based Nanomaterials And Device Designs - For Bioenergy Harvesting, Sensing And Water Purification, Congran Jin

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Biomechanical energy harvested from the human body can power implantable electronics such as cardiac pacemakers, replacing conventional batteries and offering a lifelong energy solution. The electrical signals converted from biomechanical motions contain vital physiological information, making them suitable as a sensor to monitor one's health condition. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is a versatile material with various intriguing properties, including piezoelectricity, photo-catalytic and piezo-catalytic properties. This thesis aims to exploit and enhance these properties of ZnO by rationally designing its nano- and micron-structures and employing them, along with other functional materials, in the development of novel biomechanical energy harvesting, water purification, and …

Advanced Tools For Time-Resolved Imaging Of Tissue Metabolism, Arthur Petusseau

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Medical imaging is a crucial tool in diagnosing and treating diseases, and by far the most common set of tools used for point-of-care guidance between a physician and patient are optical devices. For example, visible light imaging has unique applications in endoscopy, dermatology, microscopy, and this range of devices utilize a wide range of optical signals for sensing the tissue. Fluorescence imaging has become a niche but growing methodology in medical diagnostics and treatment because of its simplicity and the ability to integrate reporter molecules, that can reveal detailed information about cellular structures, metabolism, signaling, and other biomolecular features of …

Neonatal Intraocular Injection And Delivery System, Nina Treacher, Cory Ramsey, Marie Kosco, Jackson Carrell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The proposed project is a way to deliver liquid medicine into the neonatal eye to prevent retinal detachment with lower risk for bacterial infection and drug misplacement. Currently, ophthalmologists use diabetic needles to introduce medication to the neonate eye. They estimate the injection location with hand-held calipers. This may allow the medicine to be misplaced from poor needle placement and introduce preventable error. The goal is to improve the delivery system ophthalmologists currently use by investigating ways to alter or enhance commonly used injection systems to make the procedure safer and more effective.

Nanomaterials For Cardiovascular Engineering, Roya Bagheri

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Cardiovascular diseases and disorders (i.e., those related to heart and blood vessels) are the main reasons for mortality worldwide. Nanomaterials, with their unique morphologies and properties, have a great potential for advancing cardiovascular engineering to treat diseases and disorders. In this dissertation, several cardiovascular applications of conductive nanomaterials were investigated. First, a conductive nanomaterial was explored to fabricate biohybrid nanomaterial-cardiomyocyte (CM – heart muscle cell) systems. Using Carbon Nanotube (CNT) forest as a 3D porous and conductive scaffold was investigated. The influence of the CNT forest on the viability, attachment, and spreading of CMs and their genetic information was …

Small-Separation Speckle Contrast Optical Spectroscopy For Intraoperative Assessment Of Parathyroid Glands Viability During Thyroid Surgery, Connor Berger

Symposium of Student Scholars

The parathyroid glands (PTGs) are often damaged during thyroid surgeries due to a lack of methods identifying PTGs and assessing their viability. Damage to PTGs can cause hypocalcemia, a deficiency of calcium in the body. This complication can lead to detrimental consequences with economic burden. The surgeon’s current method of viability assessment is qualitative and subjective. Our technical solution is to employ an optical technique called speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS) that noninvasively quantifies the blood flow index (Db) of biological tissues at deep tissue levels (>1cm). The goal of this project is to verify SCOS at small source-detector-separation …

Engineer And Test A Biodegradable Microneedle Patch To Deliver Meloxicam For Managing Pain In Cattle, Katherine Alejandra Miranda Munoz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microneedle patches are a promising source for transdermal diffusion of macromolecules and are designed to painlessly penetrate the skin. In this study, a biodegradable chitosan microneedle patch to deliver meloxicam for managing pain in cattle was tested. The potential of reuse of the polymeric solution to fabricate the patches, optimization of fabrication, morphological analysis of the microneedle patch and analysis of preservation of the chemical composition after sterilization were evaluated. In-vitro analysis consisted of studying in-vitro penetration mechanical properties, compression testing analysis of microneedle patch, and in-vitro drug release analysis. In-vivo studies were performed to analyze the dissolution capability of …

In Vitro Bioreactor For Mechanical Control And Characterization Of Tissue Constructs, Samuel Coeyman

All Dissertations

Heart failure (HF) currently affects over 6 million Americans, 50% of whom die within 5 years of their initial diagnosis. A major contributor to the onset of HF is cardiac fibrosis in the myocardium, which arises when fibroblasts (FBs) are activated in response to heightened mechanical stress from overload conditions like hypertension. Activated FBs remodel the extracellular matrix (ECM) and secrete ECM proteins including collagen. FB remodeling has been studied in the past by applying forces and/or deformations to three-dimensional, cell-seeded gels and tissue constructs in vitro. Unfortunately, previous stretching platforms have traditionally not enabled mechanical property assessment to be …

An Integrated Electronic-Skin Patch For Real-Time And Continuous Monitoring Of A Panel Of Biomarkers Combined With Drug Delivery, Tanzila Noushin

Electrical Engineering Theses

Inflammatory biomarkers present in the human body play a vital role in medical field by guiding the clinician in decision-making for many diseases. The levels of these inflammatory biomarkers are associated with the severity and progress of several diseases. Researchers have found that increasing severity of many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, after surgery infection, and adverse clinical outcomes due to infectious diseases, results in the elevation of the level of inflammatory biomarkers in human sweat. Furthermore, the inflammatory cytokines indicate the pathophysiology and prognosis of critically ill SARS‑CoV‑2 patients. In this thesis work, different sensors have been developed for …

Highly Adherent Antimicrobial Coatings For Orthopedic Implants, Mikhail Bredikhin

All Dissertations

Fracture-related infections (FRIs) are the most devasting sort of complications associated with fracture fixation devices, as they lead to patients’ morbidity, prolonged hospitalization, amputations, and even death.External fixators additionally suffer from pin site infections (PSIs), which initiate at the skin entry points of the skin-metallic pin interface present in the external fixation of the damaged bones, often causing deep tissue infection and osteomyelitis. Small percutaneous pins, commonly known as Kirschner wires (K-wires), are used to treat complex fractures and deformities.They are drilled inside the diseased bone for the healing period and are left protruding outside the skin for fixation adjustments …

Seeing The Big Picture: System Architecture Trends In Endoscopy And Led-Based Hyperspectral Subsystem Intergration, Craig M. Browning

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Early-stage colorectal lesions remain difficult to detect. Early development of neoplasia tends to be small (less than 10 mm) and flat and difficult to distinguish from surrounding mucosa. Additionally, optical diagnosis of neoplasia as benign or malignant is problematic. Low rates of detection of these lesions allow for continued growth in the colorectum and increased risk of cancer formation. Therefore, it is crucial to detect neoplasia and other non-neoplastic lesions to determine risk and guide future treatment. Technology for detection needs to enhance contrast of subtle tissue differences in the colorectum and track multiple biomarkers simultaneously. This work implements one …

Ultrasound Mediated Tissue Growth In Bioinspired Scaffolds, Marco Fielder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Porous scaffolds mechanically stimulated with ultrasound are used for the treatment of bone conditions such as osteoporosis or traumatic bone injury. However, one current issue in these treatment techniques is designing a scaffold structure with a high structural integrity that also does not impede tissue growth. A larger ultrasound wave transmission would also allow more of a scaffold to receive mechanical stimulation from ultrasound. Controlling mesenchymal stem cell seeding of tissue scaffolds also has potential for developing optimal seeding patterns to maximize or control tissue growth in the scaffold based on an individual’s physiology. There is also a need for …

Evaluation Of Cellulose Nanocrystal Inks And Their Structural Characteristics For 3d Bioprinting Of Customized Scaffolds, Patrick William Kuczwara

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

3D bioprinting of biological scaffolds requires control of the physicochemical properties of each unique structures. A promising material for control of properties is hydrogels, which can help create biomimetic scaffolds with controlled spatial arrangement of materials by integrating biological materials directly into layers during the bioprinting process. Nanocellulose offers a unique combination of properties including mechanical, biomimetic, and biocompatibility. These properties offer flexibility over the types, shapes, and applications of their printed hydrogel scaffolds, (i.e., tissue, drug, encapsulation). However, 3D bioprinting of nanocellulose-based hydrogels requires high loading percentages (i.e., >10 wt%) or chemical crosslinkers (i.e., bis(acyl)phosphane oxides (BAPO)). High solid …