Fischell Institute Attends 2023 BMES Annual Meeting

Nine members of the Fischell Institute traveled to Seattle to engage in the 2023 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting from October 11-14, 2023.

Held at the Seattle Convention Center, the event offered the Fischell Institute an opportunity to increase awareness, foster areas of collaboration, and showcase the Fischell Foundry's expertise in device ideation and prototype fabrication.

Representing the Fischell Institute were Communications Specialist Ambi Narula, Foundry Engineer Quinn Burke, and newly appointed MPower Fellows Sam Meyr, Arsalan Siddiqui, and Jason Chen. Faculty who attended were Fischell Fellow and BIOE ADVANCE Professor Alisa Clyne, Affiliate Fellow and BIOE Associate Professor Gregg Duncan, Affiliate Fellow and BIOE Assistant Professor Katharina Maisel, and Affiliate Fellow and BIOE Assistant Professor Jenna Mueller.

"I'm proud of the team and the connections they made with the biomedical engineering community," said Fischell Institute Assistant Director Martha Wang.

The institute's table showcased three medical devices developed by Fischell Foundry engineers: the KeyScope, Baby Gro Map, and Otophoto.

The KeyScope device is a collaborative project between Jenna Mueller and Tamara Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Surgery and Global Health at Duke University. Mueller and Fitzgerald developed a low-cost, durable, reusable laparoscopic system that can be manufactured and used in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Fischell Foundry Chief Engineer John Rzasa and Senior Engineer Kevin Aroom also contributed to the device's design.

"Having the KeyScope featured and displayed at BMES was exciting to see," said Mueller, who also attended the conference. "It was apparent from BMES that few universities have something like the Fischell Institute. I feel fortunate to have this amazing resource available on our campus and right upstairs from my lab!"

The Baby Gro Map, a National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) success story, is an innovative, length-measuring mat for pediatric clinics. The map is a collaborative effort between the Fischell Institute and Children's National Hospital's Natasha Shur, a Medical Geneticist. Kevin Cleary, a Technical Director of the Bioengineering Initiative at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, also assisted.

Using visual cues on the mat, the Baby Gro Map quickly identifies whether a child is tall or short for their age. It lets parents quickly and easily know whether or not their child is hitting essential growth milestones.

"We [Shur and team] are trying to think about ways that pediatric innovation and multidisciplinary approaches can transform and improve even basic pediatric care," said Shur. "This staircase of growth offers a way of celebrating and learning about the miracle of baby growth. Our solutions also help identify children with concerns about growth that could benefit from more attention."

The Otophoto is an intelligent digital otoscope designed by John Rzasa and James Clark, an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Otophoto is a portable, digital otoscope that produces high-quality images and video in a simple, easy-to-use format. A special camera at the tip of the device offers a wide field of view and high frame rate, giving the user a quality image of the ear canal and eardrum, even if not aimed precisely. The Otophoto is wifi-enabled, with an onboard Linux processor, and can interact with electronic medical records, making it particularly useful for telemedicine use cases.

"Having the Otophoto system displayed at BMES was a great honor," said Rzasa. "It showed the uniqueness of what the Fischell Institute can offer to people looking to bring their ideas to fruition."

Next year, the BMES conference will be in Baltimore, and the Fischell Institute looks forward to welcoming participants to Maryland and building connections with the biomedical engineering community.

Published October 19, 2023