Philadelphia, PA, March 28, 2018 - Brown Biomedical Engineering students took on the Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC) hosted by Drexel University and put their design skills to the test. Students from universities across the region interested in showcasing their design projects were all gathered at the building of Integrated Sciences at the Drexel University campus in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Submissions fell in four general theme areas: immunoengineering, mechanobiology, neuroengineering, and pediatric engineering. Student participants all possessed a dedication to exploring design and a desire to communicate their goals and progress to their peers and professors.

Encouraged by Dr. Celinda Kofron and the newly established course, Biomedical Engineering Design and Innovation II (ENGN 01931L/1931L), Brown students find a new incentive to pursue a more design-oriented approach to Biomedical Engineering. A continuation of the course offered in the Fall co-taught by Kofron and Dr. Anubhav Tripathi, Biomedical Engineering Design, Research and Modeling (ENGN 1930L), this new course offers students with the opportunity to further develop projects initiated in the Fall, while also enforcing design principles that are often overlooked in a traditional engineering setting. The new course, ENGN 0931L/1931L, provides students with an environment in which they can brainstorm new ideas with peers via weekly discussions.

The NEBEC conference, a multiple day event, hosted its greatest audience on its opening day March 28, beginning with a Neuroengineering seminar, followed by two undergraduate poster sessions showcasing the work of students in a variety of Bioengineering fields. Zahra Ahmed ‘18 and Lilibeth Martinez ‘18 presented their project “Malaria Detection by Force Analysis,” during the first undergraduate poster session under the category “Diagnostics.” Their project aims at defining a new method of detecting malaria via the design of a novel device that is both more accessible and accurate compared to current models of detection. Development of such a device has the potential to have an immense impact on the populations affected by malaria today which mainly reside in low-resource countries. Their project need was identified by Dr. Ian Michelow, Attending Physician, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Hasbro Children's Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Joshua Daniel ‘18, Lucy Yip RISD ’17.5, and Amber Buhagiar ’18 also contributed to this work. In the following poster session, two teams represented Brown University. Koi Prosthetics, represented at the conference by Matthew Lo ‘18, Alexander Lo ‘18, Luke Morales ‘18, Justin Lee ‘18, and Matthew Borges ‘19, showcased their most recent knee design, a device that utilizes a four-bar linkage system in order to mimic natural gait with an additional spring to reduce strain caused on muscles. This prosthetics team commenced work on their project with a trip to Vietnam to study in detail the population that their design is targeting. A major goal for this group consists of generating a knee design that will be both more accessible and have a longer lifespan in order to accommodate for the current infrastructure and working conditions encountered on a daily basis by citizens of Vietnam. Claire Sise ’18 and Franklin Tarke ’18 are also members of their team. The third group of presenters at the conference consisted of Owen Leary ‘18 and Zakir Tahir ‘18, who commenced working on their project titled “Polymeric Electrode Placement Catheter Design with Steel Inserts For Peel-Away Removal in Deep Brain Stimulation” during the fall semester as a capstone project for ENGN 1930L. The clinical need for their design was informed by Dr. Wael Asaad, Director, Functional Neurosurgery & Epilepsy Program and Co-Director, Deep Brain Stimulation, Rhode Island Hospital and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. The team was mentored by Shane Lee, PhD and also includes Rohan Rastogi ’18 and Noah Trac ’18. At the conference Leary and Tahir presented progress on their device and illustrated the numerous benefits that their catheter design could provide to neurosurgery, impressing judges and students, alike. Their impression on the judges was so great that they were awarded first prize in the Image and Signal Acquisition category, gaining a win for Brown University.

Both Koi Prosthetics and the Malaria Diagnostic team are currently enrolled in Dr. Kofron’s course, while Leary and Tahir opt to continue development of their project on their own accord. The two groups enrolled in ENGN 1931L will continue making progress on their projects as part of their course requirement, while Leary and Tahir have expressed interest in continuing to polish their idea and apply for additional design competitions.