Bioengineering at EOH 2014

3/13/2014

Bioengineering students take home four awards at EOH 2014!

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UPDATE: Four of the 16 Bioengineering-related projects won EOH awards in the following categories:

  • Back To School: 1st Place - Genetic Engineering
  • Back To School: 2nd Place - Tissue Scaffolding
  • Transform Your World: 1st Place - Neural Prosthetic Control
  • Encore Technical: 1st Place: Active Sensing Ankle Brace 2.0

Congratulations to the winners and to all BIOE students for participating in the 2014 Engineering Open House!

 

ORIGINAL STORY:

Sixteen exhibits at Engineering Open House 2014 feature teams of Bioengineering students. The groups will display projects based on prosthetics, cell and tissue engineering, disease monitoring, and much more.

The EOH committee presents awards in the following categories: Presentation of Society (teams representing student societies), The Real World (demonstration of practical applications), Go Green! (sustainability), Class Projects, Back to School (explanations of recent advancements), Original Undergraduate Research, Best Kickoff of EOH (first-time exhibits), Encore Technical (exhibited previously and enhanced), Just Because (entertaining/informative), Hands-On (entertaining/interactive), Transform Your World (best displays of 2014 theme), Best Freshman Exhibit, and Most Innovative.

Bioengineering-related exhibits include:
Active and passive prosthetics
Athletic circuits redefined
Bionic lifter
Biopotential manipulation device
Cytotoxicity testing
DNA extraction
Genetic engineering
Electricity-generating biomechanical shoe
Glucose-monitoring wristwatch
Making sense
Neural prosthetic headset
Skeletal muscle bioreactor
DNA extraction
SmartDots
Tissue scaffolding
Hybrid bike

A sampling of the projects:
Active and passive prosthetics
Active prosthetics need an outside power source to move. Passive prosthetics need no power source or have no movement at all. Come see the two prosthetic hands the team built to demonstrate the differences.

Cytotoxicity testing
Toxicity is an important consideration when applying for FDA approval of a new medicine or therapy. This project explores common techniques using cell cultures instead of animal or human subjects to test for possible toxic effects new drugs could have on living cells.

SmartDots
SmartDots is a wearable device that alerts the user of deviation from correct posture. 

Neural prosthetic headset
The neuro-headset uses EEG to measure thought-specific brain activity. Combined with software, commands from the headset will trigger movement of the limbs. A person wearing the headset can make a prosthetic arm grasp, lift, and move a plastic cup by using his or her thoughts. 

Hybrid bike
Have you ever wanted to ride a bike but didn't want to pedal or needed some help going up a hill? Check out the hybrid bicycle, with an integrated motor-and-pedal system that lets you ride, pedal, or both. (Bioengineering/iEFX collaboration)

MORE ON EOH: engineering.illinois.edu/eoh/2014


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This story was published March 13, 2014.