Blog

BioDesign Melbourne was co-taught by Kwanghui Lim and David Grayden. The pioneering class of BioDesign students consists of five teams.

Team Navi:

Alex Newton, Wei Sue, Bradley Bergmann, Shing Yue Sheung and Mubin Yousuf.

Project:

For over 60 years, umbilical venous catheters (UVCs) have been placed in critically ill new-born babies to provide a vital pathway for drug delivery. Despite frequent and widespread use, UVC insertions are performed “blind”, with no guarantee of correct placement during the procedure, potentially putting the patient’s safety at risk.

We create a device that identifies the UVC tip location to ensure correct placement. Development of this device not only reduces the time, resource and materials currently required for UVC insertions, but above all improves clinical outcomes for the patient.

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Team Neuro:

Gerdus Buitendag, Evelyn Loveband, Nicola Ingram and William Abbott.

Project:

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Team SWADE:

Sarah Fink, Wei-shen Mak, Andrew Davey, David McAllister and Edward Green.

Project:

Nasogastric tubes (NGT’s) are used to both drain and supply food to the stomach in patients.  Each year nine million NGTs are used globally. However, NGTs are reported to be misplaced in 20 – 50% of placement attempts. If left undetected, misplaced NGTs may lead to severe harm or death. We have developed a medical device to improve the detection of NGT placement, along with a business plan for its potential commercialisation.

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Team Pelt:

BoQu (Carl) Lin, Vanessa Pang, Samuel Ellis and Edward Tyndall.

Project:

Neonatal jaundice is a common disease in newborns. Newborns are treated with phototherapy to convert a component (Bilirubin) in their bloodstream. Current phototherapy devices using optical fibre are stiff and bulky, reducing parent-child interaction.

Through exploration (with nurses, clinicians and academics) of neonatal jaundice, a potential solution to enhancing parent-child interaction is through providing more flexibility and portability to current phototherapy devices. The prototype aims to address these needs through experimentations with current LED light technologies and battery alternatives, which provides similar or better light intensity. A business model was constructed to guide the prototype to commercialization.

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Team Ni:

Tim Allison-Walker, Chen Chen, Derek Sheen and Megan Kong.

Project:

Peripheral intravenous line placement and monitoring is thought of as a routine procedure. In neonatal populations, however, it is fraught with difficulty and danger, often leading to both short- and long-term complications and discomfort. Better methods and equipment are needed to improve outcomes.

This project aims to iterate on existing catheter-needle insertion devices with simple electronic sensor circuitry. This is achieved with a two-stage combination that provides feedback on the relative position of the needle and the cannula. Allowing the physician to make informed decisions during insertion will reduce procedure time and complexity, rates of bruising, and later extravasation that results from less-than-ideal line placement.