Session C Devices

Track 1

Session C

Devices

38 BME SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS

Developing an ECG Sensor and Smartphone Application to Monitor the Cardiac Health of Remote Patients

Team 21: Rachael Chiao, Brian Jung, Jaspreet Momi, Dasha Veraksa Technical Advisor: Edward Medri (Philips)

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a method used to monitor the cardiac health of patients, but ECG is typically collected in the presence of a clinician. The primary goal of this project was to create an electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement device that is connected to a compatible software application, which can output data sufficiently accurate to be used for patient-administered medical monitoring in a remote setting. A 3-Lead ECG device was developed using an ESP32 microcontroller and an AD8232 module, which is an integrated signal conditioning block for ECG. In order to confirm the reliability of the device’s collected signal, we compared it to verified ECG signals from the Physionet ECG database. An Arduino program was uploaded to the ESP32 that initializes data transmission. The ECG device communicates with the software application wirelessly by sending data through Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud-based computing service that can securely analyze, organize, and direct data to its final destination. In AWS, lambda functions were created based on previously researched Signal Quality Indices (SQIs) to categorize the signal as Excellent, Barely Acceptable, and Unacceptable. Depending on the signal’s categorization, the smartphone application relays to the patient whether the ECG device needs to be adjusted and the signal recollected. ReactNative was utilized as the framework for the mobile application. Distinction of our approach and device design from competing devices on the market lie in our novel IoT cloud computing methods, real-time feedback to the patient about signal quality, and patient data encryption methods.

Multispectral 2D Imaging for Oxygen Saturation in Tumor Detection

Team 22: Chengxi Fan, Yining Guo, Ziwen Xie Technical Advisors: Ousama A’amar, Irving Bigio

Tumors exhibit greater vascularization and lower blood oxygenation. Suspicious tumors may be detected by measuring the changes in oxygen saturation (SO2), noninvasively. In this project, we explore a method to perform 2D SO2 mapping of superficial human tissue. Oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin exhibit distinctive reflection patterns of light in response to both red and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Using a multispectral imaging technique, SO2 mapping of a region of interest (ROI) can be performed. Light from red and NIR LEDs is sequentially projected on tissue while short videos are automatically recorded. Frames are then isolated and processed at each illumination wavelength. LEDs are placed at a specific angle relative to the surface of the tissue so that the camera only captures reflected light that interacts with the targeted tissue. The frames are then analyzed with an algorithm that was designed to extract and process the light intensities frame by frame. Each frame is split into 10X10 pixels areas. The average intensity of each area is collected over time. Matching pixel coordinates are then used to produce SO2 maps. Both the device and the algorithm are validated by liquid phantoms that mimic the optical properties of oxygenated and deoxygenated tissues. Consequently, our product, utilizing 2D SO2 imaging technology, is capable of producing high-resolution images of SO2 mapping from targeted tissues based on the difference in vascularization.

Input

PiCamera

RED LED Raspberry PI

NIR LED Graphical User Interface

Angle Model

Target Tissue

System

Algorithm

Output

SO2 Mapping Result

A Non-Invasive and Massively Parallel Imaging Device for Longitudinal Monitoring of Infection Progression in Fruit Flies

Team 38: Beminet Desalegn, Joshua Monroy, Pablo Saucedo, Fetsum Tadesse Technical Advisor: Zeba Wunderlich (BU Dept. of Biology)

Practices such as in vivo bioluminescent imaging (BLi) are used to track disease progression in live subjects. Currently, most practices of bioluminescence imaging are performed on small mammals such as mice, although recent studies have shown that murine models do not accurately translate into human disease expression genes. Research shows Drosophila Melanogaster, otherwise known as the fruit fly, may be a better model for studying bacterial disease progression due to sharing approximately 75% of the disease expression genes humans have. Until recently, all tools used to characterize the infection in fruit fly models were destructive to either measure the bacterial pathogen load or host response. The Wunderlich Lab at Boston University is conducting research that combines bioluminescence disease tracking and the use of the fruit fly model to mitigate these limitations. A compact, cost effective, and robust bioluminescence imaging device will be prototyped. Through an iterative design process, the device will be capable of capturing raw data from bioluminescent injected fruit flies, process the data to determine pathogenic load in all fruit flies, and output a legible plot for visual aid. To correctly process the data, a team-scripted MATLAB code will be used for image processing to convert the number of photons to pathogenic load. Through longitudinal monitoring of induced diseases, research may uncover important turning points in disease development. Furthermore, this prototype is intended to make this research more feasible and accessible.

96-Well Plate Fruit Fly Configuration Graphical Output of Logitudinal Pathogen Development

Prototyped Bioluminesense Imaging Device Image Processing So ware

Improving the Sensitivity and Automating the Basilar Membrane Probe

Team 41: Andrew Gross, Jose Miguel Sevilla, Jasper Zeng Technical Advisor: Aleks Zosuls

Marine mammals rely on their hearing for spatial awareness, catching prey, and communicating. Interference from naval sonar disrupts their abilities to survive such as causing their eardrums to rupture which can result in them being stranded. The cochlea is a part of the inner ear which aids with hearing. Within it is the basilar membrane, a spiral shaped membrane which contains sensory receptors responsible for hearing. The stiffness of the membrane is what determines what frequencies it is sensitive to. To better understand this we have built a probe to measure the stiffness of the basilar membrane based on the design of a similar probe by Brian S. Miller et al. The main changes we have made to this design is to make the loading mechanism less stiff as well as automate it to increase the sensitivity of the probe and to optimize gathering of measurements. To determine the probe’s performance, measurements were taken using the old probe and our improved probe on AFM beams of known stiffness to determine the accuracy of the probe. Measurements were also taken on gerbil membranes with both probes to determine the amount of time to take measurements. We believe a successful automated basilar probe will allow for a better understanding of what frequencies animals are sensitive to.

NEPHRO: Novel Evaluative Probe for Hydration Real-Time Observation

Team 2: Kylee Anders, Sabrina Franco, Jodee Frias, Olivia Claire Rose Technical Advisors: Darren Roblyer, Samuel Spink, Anahita Pilvar, Lina Lin Wei

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects more than 20 million Americans and is commonly treated with hemodialysis (HD), a treatment that replaces kidney function by removing excess fluid from the body. There is a need for a method to assess fluid volume in HD patients to ensure that fluid overload or depletion does not occur. Our goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of NEPHRO, a novel wearable short-wave infrared (SWIR) probe with an integrated pressure sensor, to quantify water and lipid composition in tissue in a non-invasive, direct, and computable way. Developments in SWIR technology enable a quantitative and non-intrusive way to image tissue with higher transparency and resolution than near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRs) imaging. The probe has LEDs of 980, 1200, and 1300 nm and source-detector separations (SDSs) of 7, 10, 13, and 16 mm. Light from the LEDs penetrate tissue and the photodiode measures the absorbance of the reflected light, which is then converted to an electrical current with a measurable voltage. The microcontroller connected to the photodiode stores the voltage measurements taken. We are investigating the relationship between the voltage signal and the concentration of water and lipid in a sample using tissue-mimicking phantoms and in vitro trials to determine the amount of excess fluid carried by a patient. Our integrated pressure sensor has allowed us to ensure that NEPHRO is making sufficient contact with the tissue. We hope that our device will be able to provide a personalized and precise measurement to improve patient care for HD patients.

44 BME SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS