As part of the graduate class Medical Device Design (2.75) at MIT, taught by Prof. Alex Slocum and Dr. Nevin Hanumara, I joined a team to collaborate with the Mentzer Lab at Brigham and Women's Hospital to design a device that could deploy their pectin films during lung surgeries. My teammates were Steven Burcat, Yiling Fan, and Sarah Southerland.
During the semester, we designed a structural nitinol "umbrella" that supported the pectin patch during deployment; a three-part triggerable gun that deployed the umbrella and patch through a 12mm trocar; a patch loading cartridge that allowed the user to easily load the patch and umbrella; and the patch rehydration form factor for in-procedure deployment. I primarily worked on the mechanical design and industrial design of the deployment gun.
We tested our device on an actual respirated pig lung, with the 80-20 structure forming the boundary that the trocar and gun could deploy through. We punctured a hole in the lung, bubbling air through it before the test. After applying the patch with our device, we showed that no more air could bubble through the lung puncture!
Overall our work was recognized as the Grand Prize Winner of the Design of Medical Devices Conference (Student Design) as well as a tie for 3rd-place of the MIT De Florez Graduate Design Award.
