Cardibend Surgical Guide

For my last semester before graduation, I took a position within the Columbia University’s Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory to develop a surgical guide for knee cartilage removal and replacement.

With input from the Columbia University Medical Center, I was able to assist in the development of a novel surgical tool to guide surgeons in the removal of cartilage from a donor’s knee joints.

It only freaked me out a little bit...

• Role

  As an undergraduate researcher, I worked with fellow undergrads and graduate students in Columbia MBL to iterate the design of surgical guides for cartilage sampling in human knee donors.

  I was the primarily in charge of:

  • Iterating on the Cardibend Guide design.

  • Incorporating all requirements stipulated by Columbia Medical School medical staff.

  • Validating device cleanliness and ensuring alignment with medical device standards.

• Skills

  Rapid Prototyping, Medical Device Fabrication, Biomechanical Design, SLA Printing, Mechanical Testing

Design Overview

With a Patent Pending on this design, I cannot disclose any detailed information until it is secured.

• A set of surgical guides to ensure proper cuts are completed for different types of cartilage removal.

• Guides are manufactured from surgical grade 3D printed resin and prepared to ensure no contamination of patients or collected samples during treatment.

Outcome

I was able to contribute substantially to the development of this device and toward it’s use in clinical trials. I learned a lot about prototyping devices for biomedical applications, and using SLA printing.