Biomedical Engineering
Students focus on medical devices and biologicals for improving medical care.
The BME Capstone experience is intended to mirror the type of experiences new graduates will face when they begin their careers.
In this context, the student team members learn project management and organization skills, enhance their technical breadth and depth, apply newly-acquired knowledge, and develop their documentation and presentation abilities.
Capstone projects are:
- An educational experience for the students.
- An opportunity for sponsors and partners to interact directly with students, tap their creativity and problem-solving skills and evaluate student talents in a project setting.
- An opportunity for students to learn about specific industries and companies, interacting and working in teams to address a “real-world” problem.
Biomedical Engineering Symposium
Biomedical engineering students proudly display health care technology innovations poised to address the ever pressing and challenging unmet clinical needs that persist throughout the world.
Graduate applied projects
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the wrist is difficult because the wrist has a complicated structure and the limitations of the conventional rigid radiofrequency (RF) coils. This research investigates the design and electromagnetic performance of…
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Of millions of individuals in the U.S. with diabetes, a large percentage will suffer from diabetic foot ulcers—chronic, non-healing wounds that can lead to amputation and death. Available remedies for diabetic foot ulcers include topical…
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Information overload is a growing concern in manufacturing environments where operators must make rapid decisions under conditions of uncertainty, ambiguity, and escalating task demands. This study investigated how progressively degraded instructions and increasing informational load…
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Home-based rehabilitation post orthopedic lower-extremity interventions is difficult to monitor objectively, as clinic-based gait labs are expensive, inaccessible for frequent use, and impractical for everyday settings. Patients also often have no clear feedback on whether…
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Proprioception is essential for body awareness and motor planning; however, its role in multisensory integration during movement planning remains poorly understood. Most existing tests only assess conscious proprioception through position-matching and localization tasks, overlooking the…
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Individuals with profound hearing impairment often face difficulty experiencing the emotional richness of live acoustic environments such as concerts. Although assistive technologies improve communication, they frequently fail to reproduce the subtle, emotional characteristics of sound…
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Tissue marking, or tattooing, is used during endoscopic procedures to identify lesions for follow-up and surgical resection. However, existing tattoo inks diffuse extensively, reducing the accuracy of later localization. Tissue-Adhesive Tattoo, Generation 2 (TAT2) is…
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Understanding how alternating current (AC) signals propagate through soft tissue is essential for optimizing implantable neurostimulation systems. This study quantifies frequency- and depth-dependent attenuation of AC signals transmitted through ex vivo porcine skin using inductive…
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Dipole antennas are being widely used in ultra-high field (UHF) MRI systems due to their deeper penetration depth of the transmit magnetic field (B1). However, traditional rigid dipole designs do not conform well to the…
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Immune-Active Ionic Liquid (HistaGE) for Transdermal Delivery of Histamine in Diabetic Wound Healing
Diabetic foot ulcers are difficult to heal due to impaired blood circulation, chronic inflammation, and the strong barrier function of the stratum corneum, which limits the effectiveness of topical therapies. Histamine is a vasodilatory and…
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Wearable ultrasound emitters are used to power implanted devices or modulate neuronal function. Variation in placement of an external wearable can result in reduced efficiencies, improper stimulation of a biotarget, or inaccurate sensor readings. Using…
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Several studies have demonstrated that certain types of noise exposure have a significant impact on an individual’s cognitive performance. This study aims to quantify the effect of different noise exposures on cognitive performance. A total…
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This paper presents the design, development, and experimentation of a wireless, battery-free neural stimulation system utilizing an intraoral pathway for power delivery to deep brain targets for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Traditional neuromodulation systems…
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This paper presents the design, development, and experimentation of a wireless, battery-free neural stimulation system utilizing an intraoral pathway for power delivery to deep brain targets for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Traditional neuromodulation systems…
Undergraduate biomedical capstone projects
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Medical documentation is vital in the healthcare setting; however, completing this documentation is a time-consuming process that prevents medical professionals from focusing on other tasks and assisting a larger number of patients. While many devices…
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Our concept works to prevent image disturbances in pathology scans by making an automated design for coverslipping. The design will work to create reproducible quality slides through increased consistency via robotic activity. CND Life Sciences…
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The Syn-One skin biopsy test, developed by CND Life Sciences, is a novel diagnostic tool that provides pathological evidence of Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and related synucleinopathies. However, during a 20-month period, CND…
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Access to diagnostic imaging is a major limitation in spaceflight and remote medical environments, where trained clinicians and cloud connectivity are unavailable. To address this critical risk, Celestia was developed as a tablet-based diagnostic imaging…
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Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent vaginal infection worldwide, impacting over 21 million women annually in the U.S. and contributing to increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Despite antibiotic treatments…
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Effective clinician–patient communication is a critical determinant of patient outcomes, clinician burnout, and overall quality of care, yet clinicians currently lack objective, scalable tools to evaluate their communication behaviors outside of subjective mentorship. To address…
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Radiation therapy is a non-invasive and highly versatile approach to combat tumor growth in cancer patients by utilizing high-energy X-ray beams targeted towards tumor tissues to inhibit growth. Radiation therapy is able to suppress tumor…
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E-Lumenate is a minimally invasive phototherapy device designed to address the need for an effective, localized treatment for Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), a chronic, inflammatory condition caused by excess eosinophilic cells within the esophageal tissue. EoE…
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In Phoenix temperatures can reach up to 125°F and heat stroke is a life-threatening emergency routinely faced by the local fire department. EMS staff must treat patients in mobile ice baths, requiring quick and accurate…
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This project seeks to improve the safety and reliability of fetal and maternal monitoring during labor and delivery by optimizing how physiologic signals are processed and interpreted. Our team is developing a Hardware-Based Filtering &…
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Diabetic foot ulcers affect 15-25% of diabetic patients during their lifetime. In Grenada, where diabetes prevalence reaches 12-20% of adults, approximately 80% of patients present with advanced Wagner Grade 3-4 ulcers requiring surgical debridement. Current…
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Fall 2025 Low-Profile Seat Belt Add-On for Force Attenuation and Thoracic Injury Mitigation Biomedical Engineering Gabriel Ames, Riley Brandt, Jaiden Caballero, Ryne Spencer Concept description The Silicone/Foam composite cushion is a seatbelt accessory that improves…
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Endovascular procedures require controlled guidewire manipulation, however, current torque devices are often manual, causing inconsistent rotation, slippage, and operator fatigue [1]. There exists a clinical need for improved torque precision, reduced hand fatigue, and safer…
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Anesthesiologists at St. Joseph’s Hospital oversee up to twelve concurrent operating rooms, which increases cognitive load and creates the risk of delayed responses to acute physiological changes. Existing anesthesia machines such as the Apollo Drager…
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Hospitalized adult inpatients and clinical staff are poorly served by current overbed tables, which are defined by their lack of maneuverability, ergonomic features and storage options. Clinical feedback gathered directly from Mayo Clinic Staff confirms…
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Hernia repair is one of the most common procedures worldwise, with over 20 million performed every year, close to 1 million alone in the united states. Current off-the-shelf heria meshes are limited by fixed sizes,…
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There are over 1 million meniscus tears treated each year in the United States. Current interventions include sutures and partial/ total menisectomies, which can leave patients with impaired or limited shock absorbance in the knee,…
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Eye-related concerns are increasingly prevalent in emergency departments, but ophthalmologists are often not available in such settings. A quick and effective method for communicating eye concerns would aid in triage and allow for faster treatment…
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Dental caries are developed due to bacterial plaque, and because current preventative treatments are unreliable, cavities advance into the dentin of the tooth—emphasizing the need for an adaptable, and non-invasive solution for early effective intervention…
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Affecting approximately 3 million people in the United States, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness that manifests due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) damaging the optic nerve. Early detection of glaucomatous ocular environments allows…
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The tenaculum is a tool used in gynecological procedures, such as IUD insertion and biopsies, to stabilize the cervix. The current tenaculum, modeled after a Civil War-era device used to extract bullets from bodies, is…
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Current solutions for transferring silicone from manufacturing containers into molds for medical-grade implantable devices and prosthetics are expensive, inefficient, and lack modularity for different batch sizes of silicone. Improving workflow through a modular transfer apparatus…
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Major traumatic injuries to lower limbs require tourniquet intervention in nearly 90% of cases. Overtightening and improper application result in about 23% of patients experiencing long term nerve and tissue damage. The Smart Tourniquet for…
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Our team M.A.P.S. focuses on developing a platform designed specifically for working with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) data. The main idea is to finally create one place where users can open, visualize, and interact…
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Fall 2025 Synthetic Tissue Phantom for Validation of Core-Needle Biopsy Devices Biomedical Engineering Nora Dores, Jaden Figger, Isabella Palacio, T’yr SImmons-LaRose Video Research poster View the poster Faculty mentor Brent VernonAssociate ProfessorSchool of Biological and…
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Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. A debilitating complication of SSc is calcinosis: the deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite in soft tissue. These deposits,…
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Catheterized patients in intensive care units (ICUs) require continuous urine output monitoring to assess kidney function and fluid balance. Current methods rely on manual measurement from urine collection bags, which increases the risk of infection…
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Over 400,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the U.S., and visibility limitations remain a leading challenge contributing to more surgical complications. The primary clinical challenge identified by stakeholders, including gynecologic surgeons, was the need for…
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Jointelligence addresses the growth modulation surgery implant problem in collaboration with Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Dr. Mohan Bethlur, Dr. Subham Badhyal, and Benjamin Fife. Knocked and bowed knees are treated with titanium 8-plates fixed near…
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ZnTech is a bioelectric, compression-ready textile sleeve designed to protect fragile, aging skin and lower the incidence of skin tears on the forearm and hand. The sleeve provides gentle, distributed mechanical support while delivering microcurrent…