Biodesign Capstone

Inventum Meditech: Josue Alicea, Naomi Bussi, Lucy Cai, Inuri Galle Liyanage, Maliha Meherun
Project Sponsor: Jacobi Medical Center

Patients visit the emergency department (ED) when they exhibit pain, cough, and fever symptoms. Some of these symptoms are associated with infections, but the type of infection, viral or bacterial, is unknown. In the current standard of care protocols in hospitals, the patients are given antibiotics and blood cultures are drawn. However, with the increasing use of antibiotics for all types of infections, complications like antibiotic resistance leading to higher medical costs, longer hospital stays, and higher mortality arise. Physicians acknowledge this problem and there has been an effort made to promote antibiotic stewardship which changes the way antibiotics are prescribed to reduce misuse. Currently, research is being done to promote this effort either by altering antibiotic properties or improving detection. One specific area of research is the study of procalcitonin (PCT), a peptide that has been studied for almost three decades. In the current clinical practices, PCT has shown to be a promising infectious disease biomarker for the early detection of bacterial infection and is closely related to antibiotic effectivity. Thus, Inventum’s novel device of incorporating PCT concentration detection with related antibiotics suggestions aims to promote antibiotic stewardship.

MOLSC: Miriam Minkowitz, Oscar Pais, Liel Silverstone, Sabrina Shafi, Chrisha Nario
Project Sponsor: Jacobi Medical Center

Women in healthcare have been long accustomed to ongoing pain that is caused by the devices used to treat and dilate the cervix. The tools that have been used during in-office procedures are traumatic and painful, causing many women to avoid GYN healthcare. Dilation of the cervix is a common practice used to check on the health of the cervix and uterus of women. However, the tools used to dilate, such as the tenaculum and Hegar, are rigid, invasive, traumatic, and do not cater to personalization of each individual cervix. These devices date back to over 170 years ago and have not been updated since. MOLSC has aimed to reduce the pain that is caused by dilations through the NAVID, which uses atraumatic and a user-friendly process to dilate the cervix. This method of dilation will reduce pain, remove unwanted perforations, cater to patient specific cervix and create a safe and easy dilation for both the physician and patient.

Ortho League: Shirley Chen, Melina Couzis, Yongseok Lee, Michael Mayne, Yudelca Ogando
Project Sponsor: Jacobi Medical Center

Swelling: the process of acute inflammation, which is a response that is triggered by damage to living cells.

Patients that have swelling of the ankle after a traumatic orthopedic injury may experience:

• Increased pain around the injury site
• Atrophy and weakness of the muscle tissue around the joint
• Patients with decreased blood circulation
• Patients with decreased elasticity of blood vessels, muscles, joints and skin.

Dermi:Avi S. Albeg, Brandon May, La Shawn Pearce, Priotush Talukder, Shane Mayack
Project Sponsor: Galderma

Blood and needle intolerance affects upwards of 15 million adults and 5 million children in the US. The quality of care of patients with blood and needle intolerance decreases due to an increase in procedure time, as well as some patients avoiding blood draws and doctor visits altogether. Current available solutions are insufficient to provide the care these patients need. The use of interstitial fluid as a reservoir of physiological data allows for a shift away from a traditional blood draw. Dermi is developing a less invasive device-based collection method for dermal interstitial fluid, with on board biomarker detection and analysis.

.

EntreDerm: Lesly Polanco P, Zachary Werner, Victor Adedara, Lourdes Endara
Project Sponsor: Galderma

Pressure ulcers form as a result of soft tissue compressing between a bony prominence and an external surface, causing necrosis and ulceration to the area. They affect 2.5 million people and cost $9 to $11 billion to the healthcare system annually. The current standard of care involves visual inspection and repositioning the patient every two hours. EntreDerm’s goal is to develop a device-based solution to predict the progression of pressure ulcers before Stage 1 in patients who are unable to independently mobilize. This remote monitoring tool will notify nursing staff before the development of Stage 1 pressure ulcers to help reduce their incidence rate.

Excelsior:Michael Balangue, Leonard Chavannes, Philip Coatl, Tawai Gbollie, & Chaya Sussman
Project Sponsor: Galderma

Approximately 76% of patients with atopic dermatitis experience sleep disturbances due to nocturnal pruritus. These sleep disturbances have a negative impact on the general quality of life with poor outcomes such as daytime fatigue, poor overall health perception, mood disturbance, increased levels of stress and depression, and impaired neurocognitive functioning. HYPNOS is a wearable device used to reduce the occurrence of sleep arousal caused by nocturnal pruritus of patients affected by atopic dermatitis. Excelsior’s solution will provide automated treatment via TENS technology to add an additional sleep cycle that would amount to up to 90 minutes of sleep.

Occam Medtek: Abdul R Abdulai, Danna Cruz, Oliver Brannigan, Wasem Khalid
Project Sponsor: Galderma

Atopic Dermatitis (AD) affects 9.6 million people in the US, with itching percisisting for >12 hours a day for patients with mild to moderate AD. Occam Medtek is developing a device-based intervention to help adult AD patients manage their chronic itch symptoms by limiting the amount of time spent scratching using thermoelectric cooling technology. Current treatments are limited in frequency of use such as topical steroids and UV therapy. DermaFrost is a lightweight, portable, ergonomically designed thermoelectric cooling device that will be used as an adjunctive to common AD therapies.

Skin & Bone: Airagha J Aldefri, Daniel Villarroel, Marin Sabu, Cory Crew, Ahmed Ramadan
Project Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Blood cancer patients are often put through a trial-and-error treatment approach. Skin & Bone worked to develop a device to facilitate the shift towards a more personalized treatment plan.The team designed a multiple tissue biopsy collection tool to be used by clinical oncologists. By collecting a diseased bone marrow sample and a healthy skin sample, clinicians could compare the genetic data to determine a more effective treatment course, aiming to reduce the incidence of relapsed patients.

Shikatech: Anuoluwapo Bolarinwa, Alex Chalco, Luis Marin-Gomez, Tasnim Islam
Project Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Patients who undergo radiotherapy to treat head and neck cancers often develop trismus as a side-effect. Trismus affects a patient’s ability to open their mouths beyond a few millimeters, making it hard to maintain good oral hygiene. Dentists are unable to treat complications as they arise, since they aren’t able to access the mouth. Shikatech developed a specialized toothbrush, designed for even the most extreme trismus cases. They focused on prevention; establishing a strong oral hygiene routine for the patient would lead to fewer downstream complications, and therefore a better quality of life.

DermaSee: Cira Cardaci, Chaya Edelman, Bo Guan, & Mican Meneses
Project Sponsor: Galderma

Menopausal women often experience symptoms such as hot flashes and dry or itchy skin. With the goal of improving the quality of life and health literacy of menopausal women, DermaSee is developing a pendant that contains temperature and moisture sensors that will detect and track hot flashes and changes in skin moisture. The user can access their measurement data, educational information, a symptom diary, and a support group via an iOS app.

SkInsight Health: Ashley Abid, Jeremy Kaplitt, Mohammed Rumon, & Thandiwe-Kesi Robins
Project Sponsor: Galderma

The pediatric atopic dermatitis patient population is known to not adhere to their treatment, which is crucial for symptom management and reduction of the severity of the condition.  SkInsight Health aims to help this population with their atopic dermatitis care and management by increasing treatment adherence through a personalized and holistic approach along with therapeutic education. The team will achieve this goal by integrating the quantitative measurements of skin hydration and ambient humidity/temperature with a personalized gaming app.

Motion 2 Movement: Zena Ahmed, Ralph Hertz, Janine Medina, & Ankush Thakur

Project Sponsor: Motion2Movement

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a chronic knee joint disease that affects approximately 20 million Americans and often leads to pain, swelling, and joint stiffness that eventually necessitate a total knee replacement. Excessive joint forces are a common problem among KOA individuals. Motion2Movement is developing a device that is worn above and below the knee to monitor how KOA patients walk and help them prevent excessive forces on the knee joint to reduce their pain and symptoms.