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Design Program

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The Design Program at U-M BME is an intensive, hands-on program that places students in a simulated incubator environment, solving problems for real clients with faculty guidance and professional mentorship. Each course builds upon previous offerings to produce innovative, industry-ready biomedical engineers.

Course Progression:

Engin 100 Paper design of a novel diagnostic test
BME 350 Design modeling
BME 458 Semester instrumentation design
BME 450 Semester design-build-test (DBT)			BME 451/452 Year-long DBT-retest (DBTR)
Undergraduate
Graduate	BME 599 Year-long DBTR + implement (commercialization, regulation, and patentability)

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Benefits to Students:

• Applied learning in design-build-test-retest sequence
• Focus on team dynamics, brainstorming, idea selection and refinement, and technical communication skills
• Exposure to intellectual property, funding and budgeting
• Clients include local industry and clinicians, plus faculty from engineering, medicine, dentistry, public health
• Commercialization resources and mentors from business school and Center for Entrepreneurship
• Network of professional contacts and portfolio of design work
• Specialization options in areas such as global health design
• Access to design-related resources

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Benefits to Industry and Clinical Participants:

The industry and clinical professionals who work with our design students ask to participate again and refer colleagues because of the high-caliber ideas our students generate. Combining the talent and motivation of BME design students with strong technical coaching and the ability to focus intensively on a particular problem has led to both improvements on existing technologies as well as completely novel solutions that have gone on to win design awards, formed the basis of journal articles, and secured provisional patents.

Click here to see ways to get involved.

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Sample Projects:

• ENG 100: 2PILL Diagnostic Test for Colon Cancer
  
  

  In this project, the team developed a two stage diagnostic test that first screens patients with a family history of colon cancer using a gene sequencing test, then tests the rest of the population using two pills, a pill to measure the level of protein and a second camera pill to image the colon, to determine if a patient has colon cancer. Those patients with a family history of colon cancer would be administered a sequencing test that looks for mutations in two genes, FAP and HNPCC. If a patient tests positive they will be screened, for colonic polyps, at the appropriate age according to the specific mutation with a virtual colonoscopy. Since ninety-five percent of colon cancer cases are non-genetic, the patients who test negative for a genetic mutation and everyone over the age of forty will receive our 2PILL diagnostic test. The first pill would contain nanosystems which would bind to the APC protein of colon cells through a bioflourescent marker and the second would be a laser pill which would analyze the amount of the protein. Lower levels of APC would indicate that a patient would be at risk for forming polyps, then cancer. The 2PILL test will not only produce more compliance from the population, but will also be cost-effective, non-invasive, and highly sensitive.

• BME 458: System for Measuring Fitness Signals During Exertion
• BME 450: Adjustable Robotic Ankle Exoskeleton
  BME 450: Bi-directional Multi-drive System for Neural Implants
• BME 451/452: Hemolysis Unit for Red Blood Cell Fragility Analysis
• BME 599: An Endoscope Attachment to Remove Blood Clots in the Stomach
  BME 599: ASME iShow 2009 Semifinalists.
  
  

  "Endocutter," was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2009ASME Innovation Showcase (IShow) competition. The team project, The Endocutter, is a medical device for gastroenterologists who require a more effective means of removing blood clots from the stomach during episodes of stomach bleeding. It is an endoscope attachment that breaks down blood clots which allows their easy removal through a conventional endoscope suction channel. Unlike current methods such as snares, forceps, or lavage tubes which are time-consuming and ineffective, our device offers an efficient alternative that makes the procedure quicker, safer, and cost-effective.

  As semifinalists, Endocutter received hands-on mentoring and instruction specific to their venture through the NCIIA Invention to Venture (I2V) Program. Team members experienced 3-4 days of intensive class-time and several weeks of coaching and strategy sessions, leading to a sound and investor-ready pitch. Endocutter was also the recipient of a Zell Lurie Institute/Center for Entrepreneurship Dare to Dream Design Grant and a U-M Medical Innovations Innovation Award.

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Industry Sponsors/Collaborators:

*Click here to see a full list of our sponsors/collaborators.