Following a lower limb amputation, many patients suffer from fluid buildup and atrophy which results in highly varying volume fluctuations during the first year after. Once being fitted, amputees are tasked with maintaining a proper balance of a socket fit, donning or doffing socks of varying thickness under their prosthetic, in order to address the volume fluctuation that occurs throughout the day as well as the gradual atrophy that occurs in varying rates over the first year. This project is looking to develop a bladder system that will apply pressure more accurately to the limb in order to improve prosthetic fit for amputees. 

This study examined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor learning, focused on movement quality using a simulated feeding task and kinematic analysis. It compares the performance of a control group and a tDCS group (active and sham) and analyzes the dwell time, the duration that the spoon stays within a virtual cup, as a measure of movement quality over trials. Finding that dwell time decreases over rials, indicating improved movement quality, but the difference between control and tDCS group is not significant, suggesting there is not enough evidence of a placebo effect. 

This study aimed to understand if the menstrual cycle impacts one's recall ability by deploying a daily survey to menstruators across 56 days. The daily survey collected information on the day's cycle phase, word recalls, letter recalls, and confidence estimates to quantify the relationship between each cycle phase and short-term memory.

Fluid buildup and atrophy at the amputation site of lower limb amputees results in highly varying volume during the year after amputation. With all things considered, each lower limb amputee possesses a complex geometry where every patient is treated uniquely. Pneumatics in the socket has not been a method eagerly explored by others but would allow the greatest user ability of volume compensation. 

This research project supported by HyperX, explores the intricate relationship between human performance dynamics and gaze behavior in high-stress environments, focusing on competitive video gaming. The study involves 45 players across popular games—Valorant, Call of Duty, and League of Legends—using various technologies, including webcams, physiological sensors, eye trackers, and screen recording, to collect data on emotional, physiological, oculomotor, neuromotor control, and game performance metrics during 5-6 hour sessions. Preliminary results reveal game-specific trends, with Valorant and League of Legends showing decreasing performance with increasing gaze area, while Call of Duty exhibits the opposite trend, emphasizing the importance of context-specific considerations in optimizing focus and attention in high-stress scenarios.

Team Members

Megha Rameshbhai Savaliya

Sponsor/Mentor:

Aurel Coza

Comparing our experimental setup to that of our referenced literature. Doing this would give us a good foundation to work with for later human/human experiments and hopefully human/robot experiments.

Sponsor/Mentor:

Christopher Plaisier

Team Members

Kanthala Amulya Sai Reddy

The main objective of this applied project is to explore the physicochemical properties and biocompatibility of a biomimetic nanoformulation recently developed in the Wang lab. These nanoparticles are coated with the plasma membrane of monocytes and carry MRI contrast agents, making them potentially valuable for future medical imaging and disease diagnosis. The data obtained from this applied project will contribute to the refinement of this technology and its practical applications.

Team Members

Seyedamin Hashemi

The Stress Quantification/ Management Project uses real-time data processing to understand physiological and psychological reactions to stressors, taking a comprehensive approach to stress management. The project places a lot of emphasis on creating a flexible mathematical model that makes use of current stress theories and fills the gap in the matrix. This model should forecast stress patterns and magnitudes in a variety of situations that are subject to different physical workloads and build comprehensive framework for quantifying physical stress to increase our knowledge and insights about physical stress and stressors.

The goal of the project is to develop a bone fixation device by using bio-composite that mimic the mechanical properties of metallic bone fixation device. The composite is made of a polymer and a ceramic and analyzing the computational model by using Ashby plots.

This research investigates the skin pH levels in neonatal and adult mice, revealing that neonatal skin exhibits a more responsive pH profile. By simulating these conditions ex-vivo using pH buffers, we demonstrate the potential for a non-invasive, wearable pH monitoring device in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). Our findings lay the groundwork for developing wearable diagnostics to enhance neonatal care.

The objective of  this work is to synthesis and characterization of silk fibroin (SF) and particularly it bioengineered degradation to attain a tunable bone tissue regeneration. If SF could be made with a tunable degradation response, it may be then possible to synchronize scaffold degradation with the rate of new tissue formation. Tuning this rate would thus make silk fibroin an ideal scaffold having broad utility in hard tissue regeneration applications.

The project aims to answer the question of how a nanodrug developed to treat atherosclerosis interacts in the cells where we observe atherosclerosis. To address this issue we used SPR technology to understand the binding kinetics of the developed drug delivery nanomaterials with cell adhesion molecules (VCAM1) which were used to mimic inflamed endothelium.

Team Members

Nicholas Peters

This Experiment use many types of stressors at a time to quantify the different types of stress using different physiological indicators and from that data we can figure out which type of stress person is having at that moment while measuring the behavioral changes. We are using MATLAB GUI Application to run the project.

Team Members

Aasim Khan, Kevin Delzepich, Dylan Joshi, Kyle Tran, Finnegan Lee

The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is expected to triple over the following 25 years. To address this, we are developing a Class II, pre-diagnostic device capable of identifying preliminary indicators of Alzheimer's through data analysis of saccadic eye movement characteristics. Our mission is to provide an affordable, accessible, and early detection system that can benefit a wide spectrum of individuals before Alzheimer's symptoms develop, aligning with the urgency of addressing this impending public health challenge. 

Sponsor/Mentor:

Baltazar Zavala, M.D., Barrow Neurological Institute;  Vincent Pizziconi, Ph.D., Arizona State University

Distal radial forearm fractures are one of the most common forearm fractures, but no tool exists which can provide train medical students and residents with dual-plane fracture simulation, which is essential for developing proper technique for bone reduction and casting. Our team seeks to fit pressure sensors and IMUs to a pre-existing forearm fracture model to incorporate essential, real-time visual feedback for the user. The sensors will inform the position and orientation of a 3D model on an external display, viewable from multiple planes, while the pressure sensors inform the appropriateness of the applied pressures to the model during both bone reduction and casting phases.

Team Members

Austin Cottarel, Sebastian Garcia, Ellis Hatch, James Sypherd, Andrew Waldrop

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical treatment that uses electrical stimulation to targeted portions of the brain to treat conditions such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Stainless steel depth electrode cannulas are the current standard of care to guide the electrodes, but they introduce imaging artifacts that reduce visibility on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, preventing precise and eliable targeting of brain structures.The objective of this project is to redesign current cannulas using a strategic combination of radiolucent and radiopaque materials, specifically a carbon fiber rod with a coating of iron oxide nanoparticles and iodine, to create a predictable artifact that will provide spatial information about the cannula and depth electrode intraoperatively.

Team Members

Misa Kalvelage, Meena Karuppiah, Kruthy Shankar, Catherine Duhig

Team Members

Andrew Schaffer, Cristian Zamora, Jason Bickers, Simon Jue, Anthony Tran

Aiming to address non-cyclic benign breast pain, we have developed a non-intrusive, adaptive bra to fit any individual. This revolutionary bra integrates a nitinol mesh into interchangeable cups that conforms to the wearer's body shape upon reaching body temperature, creating a unique and perfectly fit bra. 

Team Members

Isabelle Yacoub, Shania Lee, Kennedy Holloway, Kade Kobashi, Avinash Puppala, Alexa Palazuelos 

Our team is dedicated to developing a nondegradable synthetic medial meniscus implant, addressing the prevalent issue of meniscus tears affecting approximately 1 million people annually in the United States, with a focus on athletes who often undergo meniscectomy procedures. Recognizing the limitations of current treatments leading to chronic pain and complications, we conducted a comprehensive literature search and surveys to identify key needs, prioritizing factors such as low recovery time, good load absorption, high range of motion, stability, and durability. Utilizing silicone coated in PDMS, our implant aims to mimic natural cartilage properties, and with a projected cost of $100 per unit, we aspire to provide an accessible solution pending extensive testing for its classification as a Class III medical device.

Team Members

Kai-Isabella Zeil Marrero, Sebastian Gonzalez Roldan, Divya Lakshmi Ganesan, Alpha Sinworn

Sponsor/Mentor:

Vincent Pizziconi, PhD, Chad Ruoff, MD

Team Members

Omar Al Bukhari, Sam Gervais, Jack Kostrinsky, Trenton Knutson, Ethan Van Orden

Team Members

Kamryn Guarder, Stone Mendez, Asif Razack, Claudio Rodarte

Team Members

Lilli Offenberger, Kimberly Busby, Bayley Helfrich, and Megan Murphy

CND Life Sciences (CND), an innovative, Arizona-based laboratory, offers the Syn-One Test for the detection of phosphorylated alpha-synuclein (PSYN) in cutaneous nerve fibers using immunofluorescence staining to aid in the diagnosis of a group of neurodegenerative diseases known as synucleinopathies. Our mission is to implement automated workflow technologies into pathology laboratories, specifically CND Life Sciences, to enhance the scalability, efficiency, and quality within the laboratory.

In the United States, a heart attack occurs every 40 seconds, adding up to over 805,000 people being affected annually. Of this number, 42% of the women and 31% of the men never experience chest pain, the most typically associated symptom of a heart attack, and in turn end up seeking medical attention much later than they should with this time gap resulting in worse outcomes, short-term and long-term, especially for women. Our device, the Troponin Reading Infarction Process (TRIP), addresses this needs gap by producing quick at-home results for our users through urine-based troponin readings, giving them clarity on their situation and the confidence to seek medical attention sooner.

Team Members

Grace Billingsley, Emily Byrne, Alfonso Gomez-De Leon, Tran Nguyen, Oscar Voeller

Team Members

Holland Gailey, Riley Geyen-Helget, Paul McMillan, Louis Moon, Haleigh Spencer

Team Members

Shimona Chokshi, Ehab Noarah, Akash Kuppravalli, Aditya Kuppravalli, Humanist Nebija,

Our capstone project introduces a modular inflatable device designed to prevent pressure injuries in bedridden patients. The cost-effective solution features four inflatable cells strategically placed on the back and upper thighs, allowing selective inflation for targeted pressure relief. Integrated with a real-time monitoring system, the device enhances patient care by efficiently addressing a critical clinical need within the context of the growing healthcare challenge posed by the increasing geriatric population.

Our device, the sensory assessment and migraine manager (S.A.M.M.), is an at-home device designed to predict and mitigate the impact of chronic migraines. It utilizes quantitative sensory testing, aiming to simplify daily data collection for patients while creating personalized profiles based on their test history. Comprised of components like TEG's, thermistors, and an Arduino-powered main unit, S.A.M.M. aims to be affordable, lightweight, user-friendly, and thermally accurate.

Team Members

Daniel Kasen, Andrew Grillo, Ashle Burns, Nick Hawkinson