A year-long, project-based class, Bioengineering Senior Design’s capstone course enables students to apply the knowledge they’ve learned over four years to solving real-world medical challenges. On May 4, the 12 Bioengineering student teams showcased their solutions to faculty, fellow students, parents, and project sponsors.
“Their projects highlighted the amazing skills they have gained, which will allow them to provide healthcare solutions to their communities and the world,” said Bioengineering Teaching Associate Professor Jenny Amos, the course director for Senior Design.
First place accolades went to Team Radial Access Trainer for designing a device that simulates puncture and catheter placement in the radial artery. The device, which includes analogs for patient artery and skin, wrist-joint articulation, and simulated pulsatile blood flow, could be used to train clinicians on the radial access procedure. The project was sponsored by Dr. John Vozenilek, the vice president and chief medical officer at Jump Simulation, and Erik Anderson, a simulation engineer at SIMnext in Peoria.
Second place went to team NeoPneumo Simulator, which developed a simulator that works with a prototype medical device designed by Dr. Howard Singer for performing emergency needle chest decompression on premature infant patients. Dr. Singer, who has a pediatric practice in Elgin, IL, co-sponsored the project with Jump Simulation in Peoria.
Third place went to team Stylight, which created a nasogastric feeding tube detection system that could be used to train physicians on how to properly insert a patient feeding tube without the use of x-rays. The students’ system included a fiber-optic cable in place of the standard stylet. The project was sponsored by Dr. William Schuh, chief medical information officer at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.