2016-2017 MEng Projects
Breastfeeding Cessation (Brilk)
Many women experience difficulties breastfeeding their newborn throughout the first year. This project aims to prevent early breastfeeding cessation in lactating mothers due to nipple pain that increases number of exclusively breastfed infants at 2 months.
(Students: Nicci Cazares, Hoahan (Han) Gong, and Maya Mason)
Nicci Cazares – Nicci received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2016, and is currently completing a Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley with a concentration in Product Design.
Haohan Gong – Haohan is an international student from Beijing, China. She has a BS in Food Science from UC Davis and is currently in the Masters of Engineering program in the Department of Bioengineering. Her interest is in health related food products, especially for infants.
Cenoflex Lymphoedema Model
Lymphoedema is caused by a poorly functioning lymphatic system. This can often be a result of cancer treatment, and manifests in a painful swelling. If left untreated, this can result in serious health complications. Research indicates that lymphoedema can have very detrimental effects on not only physical health, but quality of life, mental, and emotional health. There is no cure for lymphoedema, and current treatments are expensive, uncomfortable, and time consuming. This project aims to design a product that will help care givers manage patient’s symptoms with lymphoedema.
(Student: Jacob Ruprecht)
Jacob Ruprecht – Jacob is a current Masters of Engineering student in Bioengineering, and received his Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2016. He will be pursuing a position in the medical device industry after graduation, with a particular focus on biomechanics.
Clean Ear Bottle
Current design of over the counter ear droppers are not ergonomic and often result in excess solution being dispensed during each use, which is increases the cost for expensive prescriptions. The aim of this project is to design a more accurate and ergonomic ear drop bottle solution.
(Students: Chai Chur Err, Michael Lee, and Michael Singer)
Mike Singer – Mike is an MEng student specializing in product design. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.
Improved Egg Retrieval
Women are waiting longer and longer to have kids, but the oocytes they carry to later ages are less likely to be fertilized and have higher risk for complications. Women that desire to put off pregnancy and motherhood for any reason, have begun considering harvesting their oocytes at a young age when the healthiest oocytes are released and freezing them for future use.
The current gold standard procedure for egg harvesting involves passing a long needle trans-vaginally or trans-abdominally into the ovaries under ultrasound guidance and making multiple punctures in the ovaries to extract the eggs. Substantial anesthesia is required which comes with its concomitant risks. A nurse anesthetist to administer this anesthesia is also required. These risks and the invasiveness of this procedure have kept many women from having their oocytes harvested as a preventative measure for the decreasing quality of oocytes. A less invasive method of capturing the eggs would be a major advance in the field. The goal of the project is to harvest the oocytes after ovulation when they are released from the ovaries and are situated in the fallopian tubes.
(Students: Nupur Kaku, Brooke Lohman, and Jorge Ruiz)
Nupur Kaku – Nupur is a Master of Engineering student majoring in the field of Bioengineering. With a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Nupur focuses on medical device design. Nupur is currently working on the Improved Egg Retrieval capstone project under the guidance of Professor O’Connell.
Brooke Lohman – Brooke recently graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. She is part of the Bioengineering M.Eng. program here at Berkeley and is working on the Improved Egg Retrieval project.
Jorge Ruiz – Jorge has recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at UC San Diego in 2016. He is doing his Master’s of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Product Design at UC Berkeley. Jorge looks to use his experience at Berkeley to become a Medical Device Engineer.
UCSF – Steve Hetts
The aim of this project is to improve a current design for MRI guided treatment strategies.
(Students: Vyshaali Jagadeesan, Srivishnu Koganti, and Taylor Shen)
Vyshaali Jagadeesan – Vyshaali completed her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at University of California, San Diego. She brings her experience in medical devices manufacturing, and new interests in design thinking to develop novel medical devices to address unmet clinical needs.
Srivishnu Koganti – Master’s of Engineering in Bioengineering student with background in cardiovascular interventions.
Taylor Shen – Taylor is a graduate MEng student in bioengineering. He received his Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. He has been a part of the lab since September 2016 and is working on designing an MRI safe catheter.
Zenflow
Zenflow is a startup company located in South San Francisco. Zenflow is developing a better treatment for the up to 400 million men worldwide who suffer from urinary obstruction related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH or enlarged prostate). They aim to give men a new option that relieves symptoms permanently without requiring a painful, invasive procedure and risking serious complications.
(Student: Viola Quach)
Viola Quach – Viola is currently studying Bioengineering in the Master of Engineering program at UC Berkeley. She recently graduated with a B.S. in Bioengineering from UCLA.