Final student presentations for one of Yale’s most popular courses drew an enthusiastic crowd of more than 100 people on December 9th at the Yale Center for Engineering Innovation and Design (CEID).
In MENG/BENG404: Medical Device Design and Innovation, students from a variety of disciplines tackled real-world clinical needs to develop prototype devices that positively impact patient lives. Physicians from the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale-New Haven Hospital provided the design opportunities and mentored the students over the course of the semester. The students’ disciplines ranged from engineering to cognitive science to history and even graduate school and medical school.
Course instructors Joseph Zinter, PhD, CEID’s assistant director, and Jean Zheng, PhD, engineering director for the Center for Biomedical and Interventional Technology (CBIT) met with 30 physicians from the School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital to discuss their unmet clinical needs, ultimately choosing four as projects for the student teams. Choosing students involved another selection process since 65 students applied for just 20 slots.
This is the second year this class has been offered. It involved lectures by Yale experts – including representatives from the Office of Cooperative Research, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute – as well as outside experts from industry and the FDA. Students were coached through the design process and conducted preliminary research to generate concepts and test them, ultimately developing the prototypes they demonstrated to those gathered.
The teams spent countless hours developing and refining their prototypes, working closely with the mentoring physicians as well as SEAS and CEID teaching staff. The projects included:
- A simulation platform developed under the guidance of Dr. Stephanie Sudikoff to train clinicians on using external pacemakers for high risk cardiovascular events. In order to develop this prototype, the team learned and then reconstructed the heart’s electrical system, a feat in and of itself. When the device was tested in the hospital setting, one user referred to it as “breakthrough technology.”
- A swallowing assist device for stroke and other patients developed under the mentorship of Dr. Boris Paskhover. Students had to master an understanding of the complex mechanics of swallowing as well as the myriad patient needs in order to develop this wearable, portable device.
- A novel method of hernia repair which eliminates the need for tacks that pierce the peritoneum. Under the guidance of Dr. Kurt Roberts, the team developed a device for laparoscopic hernia repair that significantly reduces the pain involved.
- A device for CPR training developed with the guidance of Dr. Melissa Langhan and Dr. Marc Auerbach that provides real-time qualitative and quantitative feedback to users and employs a gamification strategy to motivate users through competition.
Two of the groups are applying for pilot funding under a new mechanism created by the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) and CBIT. The program allows for $1,500 for Stage 1 proposals, followed by up to $50,000 for Stage 2 proposals.
This course is an example of how interdisciplinary collaboration between students and faculty can lead to exciting medical innovations. The response of students and faculty across the University highlights a desire to do work that have clinical impact. Dr. Vincent Wilczynski, deputy dean of School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), noted that the presentations were on a caliber with those at other world renowned programs but with one difference: “Here we have an opportunity to work with the School of Medicine and physicians to take on projects to improve the human condition.”