Biomedical Engineering

BME Students Presented at 39th Annual NEBEC

Peter Szafranski — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:02:06 +0000

“Fused Deposition Modeling BioPrinter” team took fifth place overall at the Senior Project Design Competition

Thirty one TCNJ engineering students (28 biomedical engineering majors and 3 mechanical engineering majors) students presented at the 39th annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC) which took place from April 5-7th, 2013. The conference was held in Syracuse University and the theme for this year was “Rehabilitative and Regenerative Engineering.” All senior project teams that attended this conference participated in the Senior Design Competition. Judges from several northeastern biomedical engineering programs determined which projects were worthy of an award, which included a monetary prize. One TCNJ team, “Fused Deposition Modeling BioPrinter” won 5th place overall out of 58 entries. The interdisciplinary team members were Hayin Candiotti, Brian Karl, Kendra Knowles and Dana Mathews from biomedical engineering , and Kyle Mohen from mechanical engineering. Their advisors were Dr. Constance Hall (Biomedical Engineering) and Dr. Manish Paliwal (Mechanical Engineering). The other teams were as follows:

A Novel Inductive Biphasic Proximal Humerus Internal Fracture Fixator

By: Joshua Erndt-Marino, Salim A. Ghodbane, Chris Pachomski, Drew White
Adviser: Dr. Manish Paliwal (MEC)

Development and Study of a Hybrid Tissue Scaffold Fabrication System for Neurotrophin Delivery

By: Vishal P. Jani, Ritesh Patel, Rohit K. Reddy & Lee R. Zhang
Advisers: Dr. C. K. Yan (MEC) & Dr. C. T. Wagner

Low Cost Transportable Infant Incubator

By: Amreen Ahmed, Jordan Cabello, Dave Patel, Danielle Russo (MEC) & Kevin Tseng
Advisers: Dr. B. BuSha & Dr. G. Facas (MEC)

Nasogastric Rehydration System

By: Gabrielle Bravaco, Jonathan Gabriel, Pam Hitscherich, Joshua Min, & Paige Reinhardt
Adviser: Dr. Christopher Wagner

Portable Capnography

By: Cedd Bautista, Brijesh Patel, Benjamin Seiffer (MEC) & Manil Shah
Advisers: Dr. Constance. Hall & Dr. G. Facas (MEC)

uGrip II: A novel functional hybrid prosthetic hand design

By: Brianne Doherty, Kevin Mackiw, Raj Patel & Ashley Polhemus
Adviser: Dr. M. Paliwal (MEC)

The students were also able to attend several career related activities including a Career Fair and Expo and a Professional Development Panel, which was designed for those early in their training and careers. In addition students attended research presentations by students and faculty in biomedical engineering programs across the Northeast. Other events included a reception for all conference participants, and a panel hosted by the Syracuse University Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering (CASE) which highlighted the potential and challenged of academic industrial interactions.

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MUSE Research: Fabrication of polymer and cellular composite constructs for tissue engineering applications

Andrew Specian — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 04:26:36 +0000

Biomedical Engineering students James Ferrie ’12, and Pamela Hitscherich ’13, collaborated this summer with Associate Professor Dr. Karen Chang Yan and Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Anderson to test James’ hybrid tissue scaffold fabrication system also known as an electro spinning system. They were part of TCNJ’s MUSE research program, and were one of over eighty projects accomplished this summer.

Electro spinning creates and aligns fibers on the micro and nano scale. With the proper equipment, complex matrices can be created that have a variety of uses. The field of tissue engineering seeks to use these matrices to repair or replace damaged tissue in the body. This fabrication system was designed and built by James as his senior project and the students’ main goal was to test the process parameters of the system, which were tested using a Scanning Electron Microscope. This work will allow future tissue engineers to tailor the fiber diameter and porosity of the tissue scaffolding for specific applications.

The students were thankful for the guidance and dedication of Dr. Yan and Dr. Anderson. Pamela would like to add that she had a great time making many new friends and learning much from her fellow researchers about engineering and graduate school. Information about applying to the MUSE program and a list of other MUSE projects can be found here and http://fscollab.pages.tcnj.edu/.

MUSE Research: BME Electrospinning

Andrew Specian — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 01:31:12 +0000

Senior Project Team Wins Top Design Award at NEBEC

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:23:52 +0000

Four BME senior project members won a Top Design Award at the at the 38th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC) hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia, March 16-18, 2012. The four students are: Erik Anderson, Joe Moloughney, Konstantin Ozerinsky, and Ralph Saleh. Their project was entitled “Body Powered Anthropomorphic Prosthetic Hand with Force Feedback and Auto-Rotation Regimes.” This project was one of the top 3 senior design projects at NEBEC.

This senior project team proposed a prosthetic hand design which is a potential low-cost alternative to currently available prosthetic hands. Currently available prosthetic hand devices suffer from lack of voluntary wrist movement or are prohibitively expensive. The proposed prosthetic hand incorporates a body powered shoulder harness for generating grip force and adds a motor housed in the wrist for axial rotation of the wrist, which can be manually controlled by pressure switches worn on the user’s toes. Additionally, a
microcontroller uses infrared signals emitted from the wrist to auto-rotate the palm towards the nearest detected object when this mode is turned on. The proposed design represents a considerable advantage in terms of functionality and cost over available commercial models.

Please click here to learn more about the other BME senior project teams that attended the NEBEC.

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BME Students Attend NEBEC

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:20:05 +0000

Nine biomedical engineering senior design teams presented their work at the 38th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC) hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia, March 16-18, 2012. They also competed with senior design teams from throughout the northeast. The teams were comprised of 30 biomedical engineering seniors, one electrical engineering and 2 mechanical engineering students.

BioBox: Environmental Chamber for Microscopic Observation
Team Members: Max An, Danny Santucco, Caroline Wang, Benjamin Winter
Advisors: Connie Hall, PhD and Allen Katz, PhD

Body Powered Anthropomorphic Prosphetic Hand with Force Feedback and Auto Rotation Regimes
Team Members: Erik Anderson, Joe Moloughney, Konstantin Ozerinsky, Ralph Saleh
Advisors: Manish Paliwal, PhD

Design and Implementation of a Microfluidic Device for Studying Angiogenesis
Team Members: Melissa A. Calt, Michelle K. Sempkowski, Shruti Ahlawat, Richa Lamba,
Advisor: Christopher Anderson, PhD

Design of a Mechanical CPR Device: Automated CPR To-Go
Team Members: Tonya Habibian, Ashka Mehta, Louie Hernandez, Angelina Harr
Advisor: Connie Hall, PhD

Flow Chamber for Drug Delivery
Team Members: Ga Young Han, Kevin Hardiman, Renee Hyer
Advisor: Christopher Anderson, PhD and Syed Zaidi, PhD

Non-Invasive Neonatal Vital Acquisition Unit
Team Members: Michael Bunalski, Mellissa .Mastro
Advisor: Brett BuSha, PhD

Rehabilitative Arm Assist Device
Team Members: Andrew Levitsky, Christian Mejia, Danny Molina, Christina Paparella & Greg Van Ness
Advisor: Constance Hall, PhD and Jennifer Wang, PhD

Study of Material and Process Compatibility for a Hybrid Tissue Scaffold Formation System
Team Members: James Ferrie, Kevin Froster, Timothy Olson, Raj Vansia,
Advisor: Christopher Anderson, Phd, and Karen Chang Yan, PhD

Transportable Infant Incubator for Developing Counries
Team Members: Rober Cichocki, Adam Midouin, Ricky O’Laughlin
Advisor: Brett BuSha, PhD

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Bio Signal Controlled Wheelchair

Web Administrator — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:35:18 +0000

Quadroplegia is paralysis caused by illness or injury such as Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) which usually happens because of a sudden severe blow to the spine that results in the partial or total loss of use of all of the person’s limbs and torso. There are an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 new cases of SCI per year in the U.S. About 10,000 of these people are permanently paralyzed, and many of the rest die as a result of their injuries. Quadriplegics rely on power wheelchairs for mobility, but the current hands-free controller systems are obtrusive and expensive, such as the “sip and puff” design that requires the operator to blow into a tube to control the chair.

Dan Kupetz ’10 and Scott Wentzell ’10 decided to help quadriplegics by designing a power wheelchair with a novel head-tracking motion control system for quadriplegics with head and neck mobility. The official name of their project is the Bio-Signal Controlled Power Wheelchair, although it is also known (more accurately) as the Head Position Controlled Power Wheelchair. Head movement was measured using camera-based motion-tracking of an infrared reflecting array on the back of the user’s head. Reflective orbs on the back of the users head reflected infrared light (top two images); a webcam modified to detect infrared light worked in conjunction with a java library of functions to track the orbs of light (bottom two images).

The control system translated the position of the user’s head relative to the wheelchair headrest into speed and directional control of the wheelchair and also included a standby mode that was activated by pressing the head back against the headrest, which activated the braking system while deactivating the drive train, allowing for manual control of the wheelchair via a rear support system. The final design successfully tracked the motion of an infrared reflective array and translated the motion into wheelchair movement. The wheelchair successfully integrated front and rear suspension, a rear support/manual transport mechanism, and a battery powered drive train. The wheelchair itself was custom fabricated in-house, using the frame of a standard wheelchair as the only pre-fabricated part. The top speed was designed to be approximately 5.5mph.

The team presented their work at the Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC), which took place at Columbia University in March 2010.

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Biomedical Engineering

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:43:51 +0000

BMES Attends National Conference

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:04:01 +0000

TCNJ’s BMES student chapter with the aid of the Department of Engineering sent eleven students to the Biomedical Engineering Society’s National Conference in Hartford, CT fromOctober 12th to 15th. Several students presented posters on their research conducted at TCNJ as well as at other universities. The conference offered the opportunity to learn about current research and developments from universities across the country as well as the chance to network with companies and graduate schools. The trip was an eye-opening experience for all.

From left to right: Dr. Christopher Anderson, Dr. Connie Hall, Melissa Mastro ’12, Nima Rahimi ’12, Patrick Ozarek ’14, Brianne Dougherty ’13, Robert Cichocki ’12, Ashley Polhemus ’13, Erik Johnsen ’12, Richa Lamba ’12, George Banis ’14, Melissa Calt ’12, Michelle Sembkowski ’12, Dr. Brett BuSha

Posters presented in the Undergraduate Symposium (TCNJ SoEng Students in bold):

Michelle Sempkowksi (1), Amy Bendekar (2), Stavroula Sofou (2)
(1) Department of Biomedical Engineering, The College of New Jersey
(2) Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University
“Effects of liposome Size and Surface Modification on Cancer Cell Targeting and Macrophage Association”

Richa Lamba, Melissa Calt, Connie L. Hall
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The College of New Jersey
“Generation and Characterization of Model Microparticles from THP-1 Cells”

Melissa Mastro (1), Nima Rahimi (1), Teresa Nakra (2), Brett BuSha (1)
(1) Department of Biomedical Engineering
(2) Department of Music, The College of New Jersey
“A Low Cost and Unobtrusive System to Measure Emotional Arousal”

Sal Ghodbane (1), A. J. So, N.I. Nativ (2), G. Yarmush (2), J. Barminko (2), T. Macuire (2), F. Berthiaume (2), R. Schloss (2), and M.L. Yarmush (2)
(1)The Department of Biomedical Engineering, The College of New Jersey,
(2)Rutgers University
“In Vitro High Through put Screening System for Defatting Steatotic Liver Cells”

Mark Sidebottom (1), Manish Paliwal (1)
Design criteria for preventing friction-induced squeak of Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Implants
(1) Department of Mechanical Engineering, The College of New Jersey

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Muscle Atrophy Reduction System

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:58:56 +0000

Participants:

Giancarlo DiMeo,
Brian Franco,
Erik Johnsen,
Robert Wilson

Team Advisor: Dr. Christopher Anderson

The incidence of forearm injuries in the United States is high, with approximately 645,000 people sustaining radius and ulna fractures annually. For forearm fractures where bone alignment remains unaffected, cast immobilization is traditionally prescribed for an average period of 6 weeks to allow fracture union to occur. However, complications such as disuse muscle atrophy and bone demineralization are commonly observed during the fracture healing process, and these side effects may require the individual to undergo several months of physical therapy after cast removal to restore normal strength and motor function to the affected forearm. To address these complications, the proposed Forearm Muscle Atrophy Reduction System integrates surface electrodes into a modular polymer cast design to allow electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) to be performed on the major forearm muscle groups without the need for complete cast removal. It is proposed that if carefully designed EMS protocols are performed several times per week during the late stages of fracture healing, the individual will experience a lesser degree of disuse atrophy and bone demineralization, reducing the post-recovery time necessary to restore normal strength and motor function. Further enhancements to the cast design may include the integration of biofeedback mechanisms via surface electromyography (SEMG).

Students present at the Orthopedic Research Society Meeting

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:55:48 +0000

Engineering students present MUSE project at the Orthopedic Research Society Meeting

Kevin Abbruzzese, Ricky O’Laughlin, and Daniel Lee presented at a conference hosted by the Orthopedic Research Society on January 13-16, in Long Beach California. The conference is primarily devoted to advancements in the field of orthopedics. National and international engineers, surgeons, and researchers attend the conference to share new developments. The presence of the participants from Japan, the Netherlands, and England at this global event indicated its significance and prestige.

Engineering students Abbruzzese, O’Laughlin and Lee had the opportunity to showcase research conducted at TCNJ via the Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience(M.U.S.E.). Their project was entitled Investigation of the effect of cement viscosity in Total Knee Replacement using Digital Image Correlation. Aseptic loosening of the tibial implant is a prevalent reason for failure in Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA). The cement viscosity at the time of application to the bone is vital for cement penetration and mechanical stability of the construct. High viscosity cements greatly reduce operating time, yet, may result in decreased penetration into the bone and reduced stability.

Twelve Sawbone models were instrumented with Zimmer NexGen-LPS tibial plates and fixed with one of four cements of differing viscosities: Simplex-P, Endurance, DePuy II, and Palacos (n = 3). The constructs were subjected to cyclic compressive loading (600 N) in the sagittal plane of the tibial implants for 6000 cycles. After cyclic loading, the construct was loaded to 3000 N at the rate of 20 N/s. Both were loaded using the MTS 810 Testing Machine. Digital Imaging Correlation (DIC) was used to determine displacements between image frames taken from a fixed CCD camera.

These techniques allowed the transverse and sagittal-plane micro-motions to be quantified. Simplex had the smallest micro-motion of all cements in sagittal plane (P = 0.002 vs. Palacos and Endurance, and P = 0.2794 vs. Depuy-2). In transverse plane, Simplex had the lowest micro-motion 0.0234mm±0.0175mm, P = 0.01 vs. Endurance; P > 0.2 vs. Depuy-2 and Palacos). There was no statistically significant difference among cements when comparing maximum force at failure. These results have direct clinical relevance for TKA patients suffering from aseptic loosening.

Speaking for his team-mates Abbruzzese said “TCNJ granted a wonderful opportunity to the three off us, allowing us to collaborate with other pioneers in the field and reflect on professional opinions. We even gained pivotal information for our research! Overall, attending the conference as undergraduates provided us with a remarkable experience and allowed us to grow intellectually.”

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