Welcome to the 2021 Senior Legacy Symposium!
For over 20 years the United States has been the midst of an opioid crisis which creates an overall economic burden of about $75.8 billion each year. Much of the devastation of the crisis can be attributed to the lack of accessible treatment for recovering opioid abuse patients, with many patients returning to opioid abuse after being admitted into the emergency department for opioid overdose. To address this problem, we have created a wearable opioid biosensor and symptom tracker app that will allow the patient to monitor physiological patterns associated with opioid use. The opioid biosensor will track and detect changes in respiratory rate, heart rate, and skin temperature. The symptom tracker provides the patient with an interface for viewing daily reports and inputting daily symptoms using predetermined questions. The aim of this device is to increase the user’s awareness of the trends related to their opioid use.
Savannah Bogner is a senior from Bettendorf, Iowa, majoring in Biomedical Engineering on the Pre-Medicine track. She has enjoyed researching bone and muscle regeneration through scaffolding techniques while working in Dr. Sell’s Tissue Engineering Lab throughout the past four years. The sense of community within the biomedical engineering students at Saint Louis University has been the greatest pleasure of Savannah’s undergraduate career. For the next year, Savannah will be volunteering, working in healthcare as a medical scribe, and applying to medical school. Her dream is to become an orthopedic surgeon. In her little free time, she enjoys going for walks in Forest Park, eating ice cream, hanging out with her family’s two new golden retriever puppies, and spending time with friends.
Patrick Horst is a senior from Dayton, Ohio majoring in Biomedical Engineering, minoring in Engineering Mathematics at Saint Louis University. Patrick is still applying for jobs around the St. Louis, Chicago, and Ohio area but hopes to go into industry right after college. Patrick has worked in numerous research labs such as Dr. Timperman’s Travelling Wave Electrophoresis lab in Urbana, IL and has shown a great deal of passion for scientific advancement. Aside from school, Patrick’s interests are hiking and passing frisbee with his friends in Forest Park.
Vishnu Rangachari is a senior from St. Louis, Missouri, majoring in Biomedical Engineering, minoring in Engineering mathematics. Vishnu’s experience outside of his coursework has combined academic research and industry work, which has helped propel him further as a budding professional. He has taken part in data analysis at the Chan Lab at Northwestern, facilitating the development of techniques to study the pallidal input within the brain and how it is altered in diseases like Parkinson’s. Additionally, Vishnu has also taken part in more hands-on research and development efforts in a chemical engineering space at The H-J Family of Companies, conducting fulfilling projects in its epoxy molding and electroplating operations. After earning his Bachelor’s degree from SLU, Vishnu will be pursuing a Master’s Degree in Bioengineering at Rice University, likely specializing in medical imaging and instrumentation. Outside of his academic pursuits, Vishnu enjoys singing and playing the violin, working out, and cooking.
Helen Richards is a senior from Green Bay, Wisconsin majoring in Biomedical Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. She plans on pursuing a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology where she will have the opportunity to combine her love of coding and biology. Her dream is to someday work for the CDC where she would be able to contribute to the United States’ effort in protecting the health and safety of its citizens. When she is not studying, Helen enjoys playing with her puppy, baking with her friends, and exploring Saint Louis.
Joe Sloyan is a senior from Downers Grove, IL majoring in Computer Engineering. After graduation, he will be working as a software developer at Epic Systems Corporation in Verona, Wisconsin. Joe has worked as a Teaching Assistant for various Electrical and Computer Engineering Classes, and participated in research projects during his final two years at Saint Louis University. Outside of academic pursuits, Joe has a passion for the outdoors and enjoys following his favorite Baseball and Hockey teams.
The group would like to thank their faculty sponsor Dr. Gary Bledsoe for their support of this project.