In the coming months, University of New Mexico graduate students will have the opportunity to compete in UNM’s biodesign program, which builds new devices for patients suffering from strokes, trauma and other injuries.
The biodesign program was initiated by the UNM Health Sciences Center Clinical Translational and Science Center in partnership with the UNM School of Engineering.
The program involves a competitive process that combines interdisciplinary teams of faculty members and graduate students from the UNM HSC and the UNM School of Engineering. The program focuses on a different theme each year to address unique medical issues.
“This year the theme is rehabilitation medicine. Since we recently formed a partnership with Lovelace, I approached them about the possibility of having the biodesign program in our joint HSC-Lovelace Rehab Hospital, which they very much welcomed,” Health Sciences Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Richard Larson said.
This semester, four teams of students lead by faculty from both the HSC and the UNM School of Engineering are developing new technologies to improve rehabilitation medicine.
The teams will be submitting a proposal for their product design before the STC, which will provide patent protection for the devices.
Some of the primary medical issues include building cheap adaptable ramps, creating new ways to diagnose concussions, designing communications technologies for people with neurological injuries and creating exoskeletons for gait rehabilitations.
“The students tour the hospital, go through brainstorming sessions and design new devices or technologies. Then, in December we have each student group present their best idea, and we pick a winner. The winning group gets ($)50,000 which is from the UNM Clinical and Translational Science Center and the School of Engineering in order to build and prototype their idea,” Larson said.
Christina Salas, assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, is guiding the course, coordinating with faculty members and students to design each specific device.
Among the group of faculty, Rebecca Dutton, MD, assistant professor in Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, will be connecting the participants with physical therapists and nurses at the hospital to gain input for possible patient needs. She will also lead testing of potential designs in clinical settings.
“This is our first year working with Lovelace UNM,” Salas said. “They are open to doing research. I believe that they would be open to working with the winning team to implement some of their technology on site.”
The students are currently condensing the eight possible designs down to three. At the end of the semester, a panel of judges will select the most promising design and fund $50,000 to create a complete working prototype and potentially file for a patent.
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This panel will include Larson and Dr. Christos Christodoulou, dean of the School of Engineering.
Larson hopes that this program can spearhead growth and innovation within the medical field and provide new experiences for the participating graduate students.
Shubham Chadha is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
