Back Biomedical Engineering students display their innovative research

Biomedical Engineering students display their innovative research

Yesterday, 1 December, at the Poble Nou campus auditorium within the framework of the subject “Introduction to Medical Devices and their Design” coordinated by Oscar Camara, professor of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies. A teaching activity enjoying the collaboration of organizations linked to the field of biomedicine.

02.12.2016

 

Yesterday, 1 December, in the afternoon on the Poble Nou campus, students from the bachelor’s degree in  Biomedical engineering displayed  the research projects they are carrying out within the framework of the subject “Introduction to Medical Device and their Design” (IMDD) coordinated by professor  Oscar Camara in the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF. This teaching activity enjoys the support of various organizations, research centres, hospitals and companies related to biomedicine.

During the presentation of the projects, the different teams of students present this proof of concept to a panel representing potential clinical investors and users to commit to developing their ideas. This year the panel consisted of the following members: Antonio Ivorra, Oscar Camara, lecturers with UPF’s DTIC, Alvaro Jansà, a member of the BERG Research Group at the DTIC, and Tomás Escuin, from the UPF Business Shuttle - Innovation Unit.

A total of eight projects were presented to the audience during the session held at UPF, on 1 December 2016:

Data analysis for skin cancer diagnosis

Raman Diagnosis: Low cost Raman spectroscopy for the detection of skin carcinogenicity” by Nilo Adell, Joan Puig, Irene Tena and Guillermo Torrent who have worked with the BERG Research Group at UPF, together with the Institute of Photonic Sciences - ICFO, and Hospital del Mar.

The paper develops a low cost, open source 3D printable Raman spectroscope, coupled with an application for different platforms for the analysis and storage of the scanned data of patients at risk of skin cancer.

New surgical approaches to closing blood vessels

Vesseal: reducing warm ischaemia and haemorrhages in partial nephrectomies”, presented by Arianne Bercowsky, Laura Ros, Joan Rué and David Tomas, who have had the support of researchers at Hospital del Mar, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, the Animal Experimentation ​​Service of Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the company Apeiron Medical.

The work consisted of designing a proof of concept for improving the sealing of blood vessels in partial nephrectomies, by injecting collagen and a new prototype scalpel, which has been tested in a porcine kidney model.

Preventing anomalous concentrations of CO2 in blood

CO2ntrol”: optimal Venturi mask and portable capnography”, devised by Marina Bujosa, Juana Gelabert, Laura Obradó, Savannah Pié and Anna Vallés, with whom the BERG research group and Hospital del Mar have collaborated.

They have designed a low cost Venturi mask, with constant monitoring of the concentration of COnon-invasively, through a sensor that sends real time data to an interface adapted to the users. This device is intended to prevent possible complications due to an anomalous concentration of CO2 in the blood of patients admitted to pneumology wards.

Device that provides autonomy to patients in rehabilitation

Habee: electro-stimulated orthosis for the rehabilitation of knee injuries”, by Nuria Adell, MinXia Chen, Marina Gutiérrez, Isabel Sierra and Álvaro Sánchez, with the collaboration of the BERG research group and Hospital del Mar.

The work consisted of the design of a specific flange for the patient, printed in 3D, combined with another compressive flange for adapted electrostimulation. Innovative dry electrodes are used with pre-set positions which provide patients with autonomy to carry out rehabilitation sessions following the recommendations of the experts.

Smart technologies for rehabilitation therapy

R-CGB: mobile app for the supervision of knee physical therapies from home”, by Meritxell Andrés, Paula Bassagañas, Núria Coll and María Pilar García, who have had the support of researchers of UPF, UPC, the High Performance Centre and the Guttmann Institute.

The project involved the development of a mobile application that provides guidance and recommendations to patients doing rehabilitation therapy from home for a full recovery without any further recurrence.

A portable sleeve that compensates for tremors by electrostimulation

SmoothET: anti-tremor device”, developed by Nuria Armengol, María Montano, Jordi Mill and Roser Sánchez”, with the collaboration of UPF’s Physense and BERG research groups, Hospital del Mar, the CREB-UPC and Northwestern University (USA).

This project involved designing a device to reduce the tremor in patients with essential tremor disease, which consists of a portable sleeve that measures the tremor and compensates for it by electrically stimulating the nerves of the affected muscle.

Identifying abnormal gait patterns related to osteoporosis

SpineCheck: a pre-diagnosis device to register and compare the patterns of the gait cycle in patients with osteoporosis”, presented by Sabela Astray, Olga Galí, Marta Molina, Carmen Sánchez, and José Soriano, who have enjoyed the collaboration of members of UPF’s Simbiosys research group and Hospital del Mar.

In this case an economic portable, wireless device has been designed for use by physicians as a pre-diagnostic tool to detect gait cycle patterns related to bone disease such as osteoporosis.

Monitoring of newborns and phototherapy to combat jaundice

Sensonatal: integrated system for monitoring incubators of newborns”, by Alejandro Antunes, Mireia Spanish, Jordi Escuder, Sergio Moya and Maite Zabala, with the collaboration of Hospital del Mar.

This work developed a hub of sensors that centralizes all the information generated by different incubators of newborns. Additionally treatment has been validated with phototherapy for infants with jaundice.

An integrative and innovative subject

“Introduction to Medical Devices and their Design” (IMDD) which, as its teaching coordinator states: “the main goal of this course is for the student to learn the development process of a medical device, from its conception and initial ideas to the marketing of the product, including the stages of computer aided design, experiment, clinical validation, analysis of the market and regulations, among others”.

And Camara adds: “the teaching method is active and focuses on the empowerment of the student for the development of the projects, where they are the ones who decide the basic problem they want to solve, and design and develop all the necessary activities to build a proof of concept of the medical device worked on”. 

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