Honorable Mention Award Senior Design Projects

Department: Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Michael Neuman

Team Members: Sarah Magee, Levi Hinkelman, Jacob Betzold
Project Title: Hospital Bed-Angle Measurement Device
Sponsor: Marquette General Health Systems

Project Summary: To enhance patient care, Marquette General Health Systems commissioned Michigan Tech to develop a device that monitors the angular position of hospital bed heads in the ICU. Current research shows that the best way to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia is to place the patient in a semi-recumbent position with the bed head at an incline above thirty degrees. This device allows for accurate and reliable documentation of bed angle 24 hours a day, without wasting valuable staff time. It works as a quality control measure ensuring patients receive optimal care by decreasing length of stay and incidences of ventilator associated

Honorable Mention Award Senior Design Projects

Department: Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Daniel Clupper

Team Members: Eric Minner, Stacie Wieszczyk, Danielle Miller, Lindsay Worden

Project Title: Creation and Characterization of an Antimicrobial Bone Cement
Sponsor: Dr Clupper, BME Department

Project Summary: This is a Biomedical Senior Design Project concerning the creation and characterization of a hydroxyapatite bone cement with antibacterial properties. The final formula, found to optimize desired properties, is a combination of dicalcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, and tetracalcium phosphate. Antibacterial properties are a relatively unexplored facet for such cement, but ultimately a beneficial one, so as to prevent post-surgical infections. Gentamicin was the antibiotic used in the cement, being that it is documented to be effective against Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus bacteria. The cement’s efficacy was confirmed by testing the characteristics of strength, setting time, and porosity against

Advisor(s): Debra Charlesworth
Biomedical Engineering

Team Members: Dona Bondy, Gregory Anthon, Holly Revord

Project Title: Postural Sway Detection in a Treadmill

Sponsor Chris Hurley, PT, DPT, ATC, Keeweenaw Memorial Medical Center

Project Summary: When rehabilitation subjects walk on a treadmill, changes in posture can produce incorrect gait patterns or initiate loss of balance. Often subjects are unaware of their unstable posture and a physical therapist must supervise them in order to correct their posture. One physical therapist typically supervises multiple subjects at a time and cannot always dedicate all of his time to one subject. The purpose of this project is to design a device that detects the degree of postural sway of a subject on a treadmill and alerts the subject and the therapist of the postural instability.

Advisor(s) Michael Neuman
Biomedical Engineering

Team Members: Carrie Curtis, Beth McGinnis, Christian LaFord, Stefany Petrosky

Project Title: Hospital NICU Sound Level Alarm

Sponsor: Dr. Julia Frei, Marquette General Hospital

Project Summary: Clinical studies have shown that high levels of noise can adversely affect development in premature infants. The goal of this project is to design a sound level alarm to monitor the noise level in the Marquette General Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and display a visual signal when a specified threshold is surpassed. An appropriate threshold, determined through literature research, was tailored for the specified environment. A circuit was constructed to detect and
measure localized sound levels and control a visual alarm in the form of a sign which is illuminated in the presence of sound exceeding the threshold.

Advisor(s): Seth Donahue
Biomedical Engineering

Team Members: Alex Helmboldt, Chen Yen Ooi, Ee Lim Tan, Hiroyuki Matsunami

Project Title:Monochromatic Cell Culture Illuminator

Sponsor: Medtronic Inc.

Project Summary: Our device is a high intensity monochromatic cell culture illuminator. This
illuminator produces nearly single wavelength light which is used to illuminate cell cultures in an incubator for days. These cells will then be monitored for gene expression changes as a result of the light illumination. Illumination can occur from the near infrared to near UV range, that is wavelengths between 300 and 1200 nm. The system consists of a light source, two interchangeable monochromators, a fiberoptic cable and a culture plate holding unit.

Advisors: Jeremy Goldman, Biomedical Engineering

Team Members: Katelin Engerer, Dan Corcoran, Adfam Fox, Madeleine Norman

Project Title: CPR Mattress Re-Design

Sponsor Dennis Jensen of Portage Health

Abstract: Our task was to re-design a hospital mattress to more efficiently allow for CPR. We were looking to design a mattress that would allow doctor and nurses to administer CPR without having to move the patient. We also needed a quick method which would not involve the care giver needing spend large amounts of time adjusting the bed to allow for the CPR. In order to create a mattress design which would allow for improved CPR without moving the patient our team went through several design plans.

These plans ranged from a compression strategy, to interlocking teeth inset in the foam, and a folding headboard to create a firm surface for the CPR. The method pursued which shows the most promise is a deflateable, insertable “pillow” which could deflate at the time of CPR, but provide support in times of regular use. The pillow would be inserted in the bed foam and allow for a quick deflation in times of CPR. This satisfied the requirements of not moving the patient, and also being quite timely. No strength is required and the mechanism is very simple. We feel that his method is a distinct improvement on the current method which did not provide full support, and was very difficult to manage alone.