Each year, biomedical engineering students partner with companies and institutions to solve real-world engineering problems through developing prototype medical devices and research instruments. We are grateful to our clinical partners, members of the community and collaborators for the opportunity to address their challenges. Their dedication to improving health care has inspired our students to apply, develop and demonstrate their creative talents and engineering expertise.
2021 – 2022 has been an unusual year, to say the least. However our students have shown persistence, ingenuity and empathy as they developed these proof-of-concept prototypes. We are very proud of their efforts and hope you enjoy reviewing their designs.
Contact Information:
Amy L Lerner – Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Amy.lerner@rochester.edu
Scott Seidman – Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Scott.seidman@rochester.edu
BME Design Projects
Archive
- A Device For Identifying Microplastics
We are designing a device that will provide a cost-effective method for characterizing whether a particle in water is a plastic or nonplastic, as well as categorizing the subtype of plastic. The device will need to be effective on a scale of approximately one to five microns, which is the size of the microplastic particles. - Abscess Model for Photodynamic Therapy
Designing an accurate abscess model for photodynamic therapy testing. - Action Trackchair Controller
A new wireless controller for the Action Trackchair to allow for use by a caregiver of those unable to control the chair on their own. - Arthroplastics
A surgical simulator with realistic sensory feedback for total knee replacement surgery training. - Automated Histology
Our team focuses on automating the mounting process of histology and our device would work together with microtome. - Baxter Smart Room
The Baxter Smart room team has designed a prototype to address smart infusion pump related problems that harm the patient experience in hospitals. - Beard Adaptor for Ventilation Mask
An adaptor device able to attach to a ventilation/anesthesia mask to improve gaseous medication delivery to patients with facial hair. - Bladder Phantom
Our team is working to design and develop a functional bladder phantom that sits in a model of the human torso. This model is to be used in the validation and testing efforts of our customer, Curbell Medical’s, bladder bioimpedance sensor device. The model must be anatomically comparable to that of the average human in terms of both structure and function. - Blood Volume Tracker
To create a device that is minimally invasive that will be used to measure a patient’s blood composition (hematocrit and blood plasma) using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to track changes in blood volume. - BrainFreeze
BrainFreeze is creating a brain temperature probe noninvasive to cerebral parenchymal tissue. The purpose of this probe is to monitor selective hypothermia during stroke intervention procedures in the operating room. - CamPak
We are tasked by Rochester Rehab to create a device that increases the efficiency of packaging an underwater camera into a foil bag, primarily by reducing friction on the camera. By doing so, more cameras will be packaged per hour and the wage of the workers who are employed in the process will increase. - Cataract Surgery Device for the Developing World
Cataracts, a hardness and opacifying of the lens, is the leading cause of curable blindness worldwide, with the majority of cases occurring in developing countries where trained ophthalmologists are scarce. Our project is to develop a device to be used for a simplified cataract surgery that will insert a cylindrical intraocular lens into the cataract. By simplifying the procedure, more healthcare providers can be trained to perform the procedure, increasing the accessibility of cataract treatment in developing countries. - Catheter Detection, Tracking, and Virtual Image Reconstruction
An integrated image processing system to track a surgical catheter in occluded surgical views. - Cautery Phantom
The cautery phantom senior design team will engineer and improve a system that will arrest artificial blood flow in response to electrocautery in a tissue phantom manufactured by Simulated Inanimate Models, LLC (SIM). To solve this problem, we have investigated methods of vessel constriction by lining the tissue phantom blood vessel wall with a thermoresponsive material, coagulating the artificial blood by introducing proteins and chemicals into the mixture, and by making the blood vessel with a shape memory polymer. - Cervical Spine Diary
A one or two sentence description of your project. - Cost-Effective HIV Viral Load Assay
To design a cassette for a cost effective and fast HIV viral load assay to increase testing accessibility in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa where HIV rates are highly prevalent. - CT-Guided Angle Device
Our device is designed to stabilize needle entry and advancement at set angles during CT-guided procedures. - Dr. Drain – Surgical Drain Securement Device
A surgical drain is placed within an internal wound site to prevent fluid from accumulating in the body throughout the patient’s recovery. A suture is currently used to secure the drain to the patient but has multiple shortcomings including infection risk and failure over time. We have worked alongside Dr. Sara Neimanis to create a new securement device that minimizes infection while durably securing the drain over extended periods of time. - Droplet Placement Positioning System for Fluid Deposition
A high-resolution fluid deposition system for use with Waveguide-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy sensors. - Emergency Vehicle Alert (E.V.A.)
There is a need to ensure that drivers are alerted of approaching emergency vehicles so that they can remove themselves from the path of the emergency vehicle. It is especially a challenge for deaf, hard of hearing, and distracted drivers to identify emergency signals, which puts them at an increased risk for collision. In this project, we developed a device for use in the car that detects emergency vehicles and notifies the driver of their presence. We used a trained convolutional neural network to detect sirens in noisy environments. On our validation set, we achieved a 95% detection accuracy with a 50% criterion. A demonstration of our real-time detector and design schematic are shown below. - Fall Prevention
Our device uses accelerometers to detect unassisted bed-exit motion to prevent falls in hospitals. - Hemodialysis Inline Analysis
A benchtop inline analyzer to measure the concentration of urea in spent dialysate. - Home Exercise System for Knee Pain
Creating an affordable, accessible, and effective home exercise device to target chronic knee pain. - Improved Neck Brace
A cervical orthotic for patients experiencing head drop due to neuromuscular diseases, such as ALS. The brace will focus on support, comfort, and controlled motion. - JungleCup Surveillance
The JungleCup is a small, portable, and weather-proof device that can operate in various Costa Rican environments that attracts and traps mosquitoes to determine the prevalence of dengue virus. - Laryngoscope Solutions
Lip damage can occur during the intubation procedure with a laryngoscope. One way to mitigate this would be to create a training tool that will improve the users’ awareness of the lips during intubation. Therefore, we will design a system to alert the user of impending and imminent upper lip damage that can be used with the Macintosh laryngoscope blade. - Less Scary Cast Removal
Our project is to design an alternative device or system that removes orthopedic casts and is less scary than the current cast saw device. - Neonatal CPAP Mask
Our project aims to design an improved neonatal CPAP mask that reduces the amount of pressure exerted on the neonate’s delicate skin and detects air leakage at the mask-neonate interface. - Nerve Conduction Velocity Measurement For Intraoperative Positioning Nerve Damage
A device aiming to prevent peripheral nerve damage during surgery and simplify operating room procedures. - Orthopaedic Surgeon Radiation Exposure Reduction
A creative device to protect medical professional from radiation with females physiques in mind - Pediatric Food Extraction
The aim of this project was to design a device capable of removing impacted food boluses in pediatric patients both more efficiently and more quickly compared to current industry standards. - Safe Patient Transfer
A new mechanism for patient transfers that will minimize the prevalence of back injuries in nurses during lateral patient transfers, while sustaining the safety of the patients. - Smart Hip Broaching System
The Smart Hip Broaching System is a device intended to collect data on impaction force and rotational movements during the broaching process in total hip arthroplasty (THA). The system will provide live feedback of this data and guide the orthopedic surgeon toward optimal placement of the femoral stem during surgery. - Spica Chair
A chair specifically designed to safely and comfortably sit infants and young children that are immobilized by a cast that spans from the mid abdomen to the ankle, all while allowing proper social and cognitive development. The chair incorporates extra space for the casted torso and legs, as well as multiple aspects of adjustability to fit the wide range of children sizes and to fit under tables of varying heights. - TILT ON THE TOILET
A device to improve the quality of life of individuals suffering from neurogenic bowel. - TKA Infection Control
After a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery, some patients experience infection at the surgical site. This infection is often associated with the formation of bacterial biofilm, and in order to treat this, the surgeon must remove and replace the implant with the risk of reduced mobility and bone fraction. Our project is to develop a medical device to eradicate the biofilm without the necessity to remove the orthopedic implant. - Tracheostomy Securement
Our project is to design a device that can quantitatively measure the securement of a tracheostomy, therefore, prevent postoperative complications and provide hospital staff with more information for further research. Because of the COVID-19 situation, we have changed our project from designing an actual prototype to focusing more on theoretical mechanisms so that it will be able to be manufactured in the future. - Ultrasound Probe Stabilizer
Undesired motion of the Sonavex, Inc. EchoSure probe is often imparted during the vascular ultrasound imaging process, leading to undesired artifacts within the collected scans that can render the data unusable.We have developed a device to stabilize the ultrasound probe; in doing so, it will be possible to help minimize additional movement and obtain better-quality images of AV fistulas without as many motion disturbances. - Urine Detection: Detection with Dignity
A device to detect urinary incontinence due to loss of bladder control. - Vascular Access Safeguard
Our team is focusing on creating a tamper-evident device that will protect the access port of all vascular access. Our device is also meant to reduce central line bloodstream infections (CLABSI) associated with intentional and unintentional tampering. - Video Oculography
A wireless Video Oculography system with two cameras to efficiently and accurately diagnose vestibular disorders