Undergraduate Senior Design Projects

Team Members: Kendall Lee, Argudit Chauhan, Chris Orear, Maddie Bender, Meaghan McGarvey

Project Sponsor - UCB Chatterjee Lab

Project Description: Expanding the Geometric Viability Assay (GVA)

The GVA-team worked with Dr. Christian Meyer of the University of Colorado Boulder to expand the accessibility of the Geometric Viability Assay (GVA), a novel method for quantifying the number of viable microbes in a sample. To make GVA more accessible and improve antibiotic sensitivity testing in low-resource health care settings, we developed an affordable, easy-to-use GVA kit that determines whether bacteria sampled from a patient are resistant to an antibiotic. To complement our kit, we designed an iPhone-based system to rapidly quantify the output of the GVA assay for up to 12 samples at once. 

Team Members: Julian Conrad, Ethan Barber, Ushmi Akruwala, Neely Quirk, Cain O'Sullivan

Project Sponsor - Medtronic

Project Description - Temperature-Pulse Oximeter Sensor

Pulse oximetry is a quick, non-invasive monitoring technique that measures the oxygen saturation in the blood by shining red and infrared light through tissue. Team Oxymetrix collaborated with Medtronic to redesign and improve their existing Nellcor Forehead SpO2 sensor to measure an additional parameter: temperature. The sensor aims to increase the convenience of vital sign monitoring for healthcare workers by compiling multiple relevant measurements into a single device while ensuring both sensors maintain optimal performance standards and patient comfort

Team Members: Alex Mizzi, Maxim Kokoshinskiy, Luke Seifert, Alyssa Dixon, Madeline Todd

Project Sponsor - Tolmar

Project Description - Injectable Packaging Optimization

Team Tre is partnering with Tolmar to optimize the packaging for their Eligard injectable product. Eligard is a hormone therapy medication that uses a subcutaneous leuprolide acetate injection to lower testosterone, treating advanced prostate cancer and precocious puberty. Key design considerations in our prototype are a reduced packaging footprint, lower storage/transit cost, maintained sterile barrier, and adequate device protection.

Team Members: Nikki Sims, Brandon Sullivan, Sarthak Samal

Project Sponsor - Steadman Philippon Research Institute 

Project Description - Improving Image Quality in Dynamic Stereo X-ray Analysis

We are partnered with the Steadman Philippon Research Institute to improve the efficiency of the Dynamic Stereo X-ray (DSX) system. In pursuit of this goal, we developed a neural network designed to extract the bone from each X-ray frame taken by the DSX. This process enables a more efficient alignment of the bones with the 3D joint projection, thereby enhancing the overall accuracy of the 3D reconstructed joint. This method minimizes manual intervention and optimizes analyzing patient joint kinematics pre and post-surgery.

Team Members: Celeste Busch, Jordan Roos, Sonia Amin, Nidhi Ramachandra

Project Sponsor - Dark Horse Consulting Group

Project Description - Hydrogel Design Formulation for CAR T-Cell Delivery to Solid Tumors

Team CAR-T Cartel is working with Dark Horse Consulting to design & develop an innovative approach for the treatment of residual solid tumor after breast cancer tumor resection. Recognizing the limitations of current CAR-T cell therapy approved only for blood cancers, our team has designed, fabricated, and tested a hydrogel scaffold that enhances the therapy's application to solid tumors. This approach with its unique properties for maintaining cell life, aims to address the challenge of residual solid tumor treatment, offering new possibilities for improved patient outcomes.

Team Members: Sam Slatcher, Jake McIntyre, Paige Caley, Keri Spitler, Ellie Goldman, Josh Jenkins

Project Sponsor - Denver Life Sciences

Project Description - Detection of Systemic Hydration

Team Hydration Detection partnered with Denver Life Sciences to develop a device that can accurately detect systemic hydration using Photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors. The device operates similarly to a pulse oximeter, where hematocrit concentration is estimated by measuring the amount of light that is passed through the finger and absorbed by the sensor. Hydration is ultimately determined from changes in hematocrit from the user’s baseline measurements. 

Team Members: Abby Pettigrew, Michael Shockley, Ahmed Aldhamen, Violeta Salazar, Anastasia Crews

Project Sponsor - Full Body Sound

Project Description - Electrotherapy Device

Team ShockWave partnered with Full Body Sound, a start-up company that created an electrotherapy device, the FBR-01. The FBS-01 converts audio input into electric stimulation therapy allowing users to feel music. The team's goal was to design, build, and test a lower back apparatus that integrates the FBR-01 to increase user compliance of devices, therefore mitigating chronic back pain.

Team Members: Morgan Linger, Ella Erich, Ricardo Ramirez Bunsow, Sophie Ramsey, Emily Stamos

Project Sponsor -Terumo BCT

Project Description - 

Coming soon

Team Members: Audrey Petersen, Jim Kelly, Sacha Ramirez, Tony House, Alexis Lee, Ethan Davis

Project Sponsor - Cardiost Inc.

Project Description – Developing Transcutaneous Energy Transfer to Power Left Atrium Unloading Device 

Currently, many patients experiencing heart failure have heart pumps that require drivelines; furthermore, these drivelines causeabout 1/3 of patients to develop life-threatening infections, and they limit patient freedom, mobility, and quality of life. Team TET partnered with Cardiost Inc. to eliminate drivelines and introduce a prototype of transcutaneous (wireless) energy transfer (TET) to power an internal pump, left atrium unloading device (LAUD – Cardiost Inc.). By eliminating the driveline in current heart pump models, Team TET plans to increase patient quality of life and revolutionize the medical device market with a safe way to power implantable mechanical circulatory support devices

Team Members: Delaney Huetson, Sydney Talbot, Tehran Law, Evie Clarke, Bridget Linders 

Project Sponsor - Hinds Lab Oregon Health Science University

Project Description – Biomaterial Benchtop Flow Testing System

Team D-BEST is working with the Hinds Lab at Oregon Health and Science University to create a benchtop system to test biomaterials under flow conditions. The Hinds Lab studies biomaterials and aims to create new materials to reduce the risk of medical device induced thrombosis. Our system consists of modular flow chambers designed to test cardiovascular device materials, endothelial cell interactions, and whole-blood clotting phenomena to further the Hinds lab efforts in cardiac health. 

Team Members: Rasce Engelhardt, Tayloe Boeyink, Ashlyn Whitefield, Brooklyn Reddy, Marcus Vess

Project Sponsor - Input Output Global

Project Description – Device for Combatting Diminishing Attention Spans

Project Read Write partnered with Input Output Global to create a novel device for combatting diminishing attention spans and reinforcing healthy learning habits. They created a brain-computer interface which utilized EEG sensors to monitor brain activity for states of attention, alerting the user via variable haptic feedback when attention lapses. The device was made to be hidden within any headwear, adopting a discrete, flexible insert design.

Team Members:  Luke Hill, Ryann Fife, Rachel Gasser

Project Sponsor - Medtronic PLC

Project Description – Sensor Assembly Automation

The goal of this project is to create a proof of concept for the automated assembly of Medtronic’s pulse oximetry sensor. These sensors are very widely used in the medical industry and are currently manually assembled. The team aims to automate a portion of the assembly process to show that the application of automation is possible for this sensor.

Team Members: Danielle Dresdner, Chrisanna Bertuccio, Lily Pelster, Jessica Navarro and Kelly‬ ‭Cao‬

‭Project Sponsor: AlloSource‬

‭Project Description: Flowable Bone Putty Dosing and Dispensing System‬

We have partnered with AlloSource to create a custom dosing and dispensing system for their‬ ‭AlloFuse® demineralized bone matrix product. This device was created for AlloSource’s lab‬ ‭technicians to use in their facility to dose various volumes of AlloFuse® Putty. Our objective was‬ ‭to optimize efficiency, ease of use, and accuracy of the device.‬