BME Student Presents Capstone Project at National Conference

For her capstone project, BME student Taliah Gorman had the chance to influence designs of future biomedical devices. Gorman was project leader for Team 22048, which worked with BME Regents Professor Marvin Slepian to refine a device that measures the stiffness of blood platelets. This device, the compact and cost-effective CytoMech, is intended to inform clinicians’ assessments of patients’ risk for blood clotting.

After her team presented its Interdisciplinary Capstone project at Craig M. Berge Design Day, Gorman took the results before an international audience in Chicago at the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) annual conference.

“It was the first conference I ever attended,” said Gorman. “I was nervous to present, and I was very happy and excited I got to, because my team and I put so many hours into this project.”

Gorman’s team and a second University of Arizona group, Team 22054, each placed in the top seven for the competition. Students don’t always know about opportunities like these to extend the lives of their projects, said Kaitlyn Ammann, a postdoctoral researcher who works in Slepian’s lab.

“Projects don’t need to stop when the capstone ends. Sometimes people don’t realize what they’re creating is very useful and could be used in a broader context,” said Ammann