This Week's Team Meeting

Hey all! So this week, I got together with the rest of the team for the pressure sensor to discuss what our next steps were to complete the sensor. And I actually found out a couple of more details for the pressure sensor I didn't realize were needed: one being all the necessary components to assemble the pressure sensor. I was missing a part of the pressure sensor. It is a 6X6 board, with drill nuggets in the center of each square. This will be put on top of the printed circuit board when we start testing the sensor. The purpose of this board is so the lab has something to test whether or not each sensor on the printed circuit board will detect the same amount of pressure as it should.

I didn't think of it at time, but I should of took a picture of the board. But hopefully at this upcoming meeting on Monday I'll be able to. Not much beside the meeting happened this week though. I worked more on my power point presentation, which was a good thing. My professor told me more materials for printing circuit boards came in this week, and I'm hoping that this upcoming week I'll be able to contact a team member for them to teach me and do some fabrication. The ultimate goal next week is to assemble the pressure sensor. All I need to do is contact people in the group and commit to a set date that we can assemble it and test it as well.

That's all for this blog, sorry it's so short! Until next time!


- Tina Smith

Printed Circuit Board Fabrication

This was the week guys! I finally got to learn the whole printed circuit board fabrication process. Of course I had some ups and downs trying to get here, scheduling wise, but I did it nonetheless. Today I met with my on-site mentor Dr. LaBelle to discuss the process. From this meeting, I learned that there is actually two ways to create a circuit board: the old fashioned way and the new way. In his lab, he does both. But he likes to start off newbies, like myself, with the old way to get a better understanding of it all.

Now what is the old fashioned way and the new way? The old fashioned way just means a circuit board is created chemically, while the new way is done by a machining. Since I didn't do the machining fabrication, I know very little about that process. Dr. LaBelle did tell me, though, that a machine strips off the copper for the circuit board; and that this process is standardly used now a days due the process being faster and able to produce fine details onto the circuit board.

So now onto the chemical fabrication process. I will tell you ahead of time that these steps came from Dr. LaBelle's lab. Just like the screen printing process, he puts these directions and these pictures in his lab so his students know what the process is when they do it. This isn't what the circuit board for the pressure sensor will look like, it will look like the design I put in a previous blog. All credit goes to Dr. LaBelle's lab for these pictures and steps! He graciously gave these to me for my update during our meeting so I could have a visual aspect to this blog. Since I couldn't take pictures while I watched the demonstration (I left my phone in my backpack).


STEP 1
Place mask on top of pre-sensitized board after blacking type is removed and place into light box

* Setup etchant tank. For a 6' x6'' board, make 437.5 gm of sodium persulphate to 1.75 L ddH20 (warning pH 1.0). Stir well for 15 min. Fill etchant tank, place bubbler on and heater unit (next to bubbler) and set at 6.0 for1/2 hr and turn down to 4.75 which yields 40 C


STEP 2

Remove mask after 2 min UV exposure

* If using UV light box. Set time to 120 sec. Place PCB onto glass, cover with artwork, turn VAC on and leave on (VERY IMPROTANT) during exposure!! Note: board will not change color at this step.

STEP 3

Remove exposed photoresist with sodium hydroxide and scrubbing for 1-2 min.
Wash board with water to stop developer.

 * While developing, add 40ml of sodium hydroxide developer solution to 360 ml ddeH20 (warning pH 14.0). And pour onto board in plastic tub (glovers needed for developing an etching steps). Gently scrub the board using sponge brush for 1.5-2min to remove the exposed photoresist so that the design is left in green photoresist surrounded by copper. Rinse the board using water to stop developing.

STEP 4
Etch board in ammonium persulphate for 10 min to remove exposed copper

 *The final removal of the copper is done during agitated etching in an sodium persulphate solution for up to 15 min (can take 30 min sometimes). As soon as all the copper on the exposed area is removed, remove board and rinse in water to stop etching. The board will be a greenish yellow with the design in photoresist.

STEP 5

Wash board with warm tap water for  > 30 sec to stop etchant and immediately engrave numbers

*Individual electrodes (or strips) will be cut out form the PCB with a slow speed, fine tooth band saw. The final photoresist can be removed with acetone rinse to expose the copper for electroplating. Otherwise store with photoresist left on

So there it is, the fabrication process of circuit boards. Again, I'd like to thank Dr. LaBelle for allowing me to use these pictures and directions. It took him and his lab a long time to get the fabrication process correct for the printed circuit boards (years he said). If you guys have questions, comment in the comment section below. Until next time!



- Tina Smith

What I Have Learned So Far

Entering my few final weeks at ASU, it has dawned on me that my project is getting closer and closer to ending. It has also dawned on me how much I've learned in the past 5 or so weeks during this internship. I'm now comfortable in a biomedical engineering lab setting; and although it isn't something that I specifically learned under the guidance of my on-site mentor, I still feel that it is a great accomplishment to achieve. It has pushed me to re-evaluate what I want in a university. And that push led me to research my top list of schools under the criteria of research funding and innovation.

In addition to this re-evaluation , I've learned that the things I feared most in engineering is what intrigued me pick it as my major, and my project. It is all about physics and mechanical work. Screen printing, printed circuit board fabrication, materials design, and circuit board design all fit under what I have learned at my internship. My project is also about learning how one does research. And I've concluded a lot of it has to do with waiting and practicing patience. In my last blog, I said I was waiting to learn printed circuit board fabrication because we needed new materials. Unfortunately, those materials didn't come in this week. So that means I haven't fully learned what the fabrication process entails. But I'm hopeful that this week will be the week to start learning.  This doesn't mean I did nothing during this week though. I actually split most of my time working on my powerpoint draft and reading about the fabrication process.

Below is a site that I came across that I really liked. On the side of the website, it divides the process into parts. If you click it, it will tell you the different part in that process. Some of those parts have different articles attached to them that discuss that specific sub-part of the fabrication step. Some part of this website are still being put up, but overall I thought it was a good start to the learning process.

http://www.pcbfab.com/


I'm know this week sounded really boring, and I'm sorry for that. But hopefully the next blog will be more exciting.  Until next time!



- Tina Smith

Waiting...

Hey guys! I now this is kind of a late post, but this week has been a bit hectic for me. I needed to work a lot at my part time job, in addition to going to ASU, and I had family birthdays to plan for. Although hectic, this week was mostly a transition week for me at my internship. Since ASU was on Spring Break last week, it seemed like this week people in the lab were getting back in the grove with things. So I spent a lot of time at the library this week, reading and designing new things for the circuit board.

Currently I'm working on a new revision of my design for the printed circuit board. I needed to make a little adjustments after talking with my on-site mentor. I need to make sure the spacing between the wirings are each 0.1 inch apart. In addition to that I needed to add pin connectors for each of the 6 wires in the 6X6 matrix. This is so we can measure things during testing. I'm still working on that revision for that, which I will hopefully complete on Monday. After I finish it, I will post a picture at the end of this blog for all of you to see.

Next blog I will be discussing the fabrication process of the printed circuit board that I will be learning sometime next week. I don't know any of the specifics of this process yet, so if you have any questions I hope to be able to answer them in the next blog.

It's Getting There

Hey guys! I know most of you  guys are on spring break, so this will be a short post about my week. Since I took off a few weeks ago, I still needed to go into ASU to get my 15 hours. And let me tell you, the ASU campus during spring break is dead. By observation, it seemed the only people on campus were the graduate students. As my sister put it, "There are no breaks in a life of a graduate student, including mine."

Not much happened this week in terms of my new project. The group I'm working with is slowly getting everything together so we can finish making this pressure sensor. The only thing I did this week was research the wires the lab and I are going to use for the circuit board. Why you ask? Because I need to know the spacing between each wire. Why do I need to know the spacing between each wire? Don't I just get 12 wires and create a circuit board? No. Before I would have though that, but in reality the wires come in a long strip. And each long strip has a bunch of wires. Since the lab is using a flexible wire type, I need to research online the spacing to edit my circuit board design.  In my last blog, I put a picture of my circuit board design. So if you haven't seen it, you should go check it out. On my design, there is a total of 12 lines in that photo, and therefore 12 wires for the circuit board. It was important for me to know what the spacing between each of those wires needed to be, to ensure there was enough space on the board, and that the wires wouldn't touch.  From researching online, the spacing between each of the lines needed to be 0.1 inch apart. Knowing that, the lab can put in an order online (or go buy it in a store if it is available) to speed up the production line.

So that's about all that happened this week. Not much hands on experience, but hopefully in the next coming weeks, the project will be complete and we can start different testing with the pressure sensor. Hope you guys are enjoying your spring break! Until next time!


- Tina Smith

A Change in Direction

This past week has been busy, busy, busy! Not only did the direction of my project change, but I was also brought together, once again, with an old nemesis of mine: Physics. Confused? Ok, let me take a step back and tell you what happened with my project. On Tuesday February 24th, I went into Dr. LaBelle's office to discuss what I was going to be doing in the lab that week. When I stepped into the office, he said he found a project for me to work on. In my head, I'm like, "Ok. Cool. I can do this. Wait, will I know anything about the topic?" Notebook in hand, I sat down and got to taking notes. And here I met my nemesis, Physics. Throughout the entire conversation, the only words I got across my mind from my 3 pages of notes were pressure sensor and circuit board design.  So after that meeting, I went straight to my sister-- who previously worked on this project-- to ask her to explain the entirety of the project.

MY NEW PROJECT

My new project is to build a pressure sensor with a team of other individuals in the lab. Now what is a pressure sensor? Exactly what is sound like, it is an instrument that detects changes in pressure when someone applies it. It can calculate pressure and then one can look at the contour of pressure over a certain area. Of course, I'm not making the entire thing. So what is my part in this project? Well, earlier I said I understood 2 outcomes from the meeting I had with Dr. LaBelle: a pressure sensor and a circuit board design. And the later is my designated part in the project. I am to make a circuit board design for the pressure sensor.

What does a pressure sensor look like? Now I could describe it to you, but then things get far too confusing and wordy. Instead I will show you. Below are pictures of a previously made pressure sensor. Now the pressure sensor I am working on will have a different design of the cooper wiring you see below. The wires will be much much smaller and more of them.

This is a 6x6 model of the pressure sensor. As you can see there are a lot of wiring sticking out everywhere, which is a challenge the lab is trying to fix.   

This is the bottom of the pressure sensor.

As you can see the lab had to attach wires to each cube of the 6x6 for the circuit to be complete.
(This is the underside of the picture above)
 

This is the middle layer of the pressure sensor. It is nonconductive foam. Within in each cube there is a circle cut out so the lab could put conductive foam in, this is to ensure top and the bottom circuit board would connect.  

This week I spent a lot of time with Dr. LaBelle reviewing and redesigning the wires. Below is the final copy of what the circuit board design will look like. It may not look like it took a long time to make, but I assure you it took a solid 2 hours of my time to get the correct number of lines, spacing, and configuring done. But that's what happens when you aren't tech savvy I guess.   

I'll show you guys the final product once the lab and I finish it! If you guys have any questions, ask in the comment section below. Until next time guys!

- Tina

PS. I wanted to send a special thanks to my sister who helped me out a lot this week. Especially when I would ask her such silly and out of the blue questions when she had to do work. THANKS VICKI! <3

What is Screen Printing?



Hey guys! I know this is early in the week, but this is a post to explain the process of screen printing. A few people two weeks ago asked what exactly the screen printing process was, and I wanted to hold off answering that question so I could post this blog. I know what some of you are thinking right now, "this post is late, late, LATE!" And that I didn't post last week. But last week was technically my week off (I had to go to Texas Wednesday through Saturday and couldn't go to the lab to get all my required hours). I started working on this post last week, and I'm sorry that is so long. But there was a lot I wanted to talk about and share with you guys. So here it goes! :) 

What is screen printing? And how does one make screen printed electrodes? Well, screen printing is a technique in which an individual uses a stencil to spread ink onto a surface to get a desired design. And in my case, the desired design would be an electrode. In my previous post, I compared the screen printed process to baking. So I will continue using that analogy and list the "ingredients", steps, and baking time of each part of the screen printing process. So let's start, shall we?

First off, here are the materials needed in this process.

Materials Used

1. Stencils                        

2. Conductive carbon ink

3. Conductive Sliver        

4. Oven                             



                           

 Below is an outline of the screen printing process in the lab that I intern at. Dr. LaBelle created this so his students would know where the stencils of each part are, as well as know the steps of the process so no confusion ensues. Now I'll break each step down for you.

Step 1and 2  

Before I start the process, I go to the oven and set it to 100 degrees Celsius (it takes a really long time to bring the temperature up to that mark).

 So in the first step, I take the stencil #1 --which looks somewhat like a bunch of trees-- and put it on printer paper. Then I take the conductive carbon in, a black, thick substance, and spread it on the stencil. During this process, I make sure to keep a constant pressure spreading the ink across the stencil. This is to ensure each electrode made (the stencil makes 4) have the same amount of ink and bake properly.

Now I head over to the oven, place the paper with conductive ink on a metal rectangular sheet, and put it in the oven. And I bake it for 1 hour.

Here is a closer look at the stencil I used in step one.

Here is a closer look at the stencil I used in step one.

Here is the product of step 2

Step 3

Step 3 is exactly the same as step 2, except with a different materials. I use conductive silver, instead of conductive carbon ink; and I use the stencil shown below, instead of the one above.  I still scoop up the silver and use constant pressure when spreading it across the stencil. The most difficult part of this task is lining up the stencil on the electrode, and making sure the conductive silver doesn't run off due to its liquid form. After that, I go back to the oven and bake it for 1 hour at 100 C.

I need to line the stencil up to lines 3, 6, 9, and 12 of the electrodes.

Step 4

After step 3, I must now take the insulating ink and repeat what I have been doing for the past 3 steps. I take the stencil, line is up, spread the ink on, and then bake it for 1 hour in the oven.  

Insulating ink is a lot stickier than the previous inks, so I need to be careful spreading it on so that the stencil won't move while I spread it onto the stencil.

Step 5

 I know by now you think the screen printing process sounds really tedious. And you probably already know the next step I have to do: the same as step 4! I must complete my insulating circle on the electrodes by doing the same exact thing as step 4 and bake it for an hour. 

And finally, after 4 hours, I have my screen printed electrodes. So there you have it, the screen printing process. If you guys have any further questions about it, just ask in the comment section bellow. Until next time guys!

- Tina Smith









The Start of Something New

DAY 1     

Despite having previous experience in a biomedical engineering lab 2 summers ago, my first week of my senior research project was rather eye opening to the idea of what research actually entails; as well as, how different this experience would be compared to my overall high school experience.

On my way to ASU the first day, in the passenger seat of my sister's car, I found myself very concerned about my project. I understood the details of my project, but I felt flustered that I didn't have a well set out plan for it. Usually a task oriented and efficient individual, I was worried that there was no exact method in my mind to accomplish my goal. So I had to take a step back, take a breather, and re-evaluate my goals.

Firstly, I told myself I had to acknowledge that I knew very little about electrochemistry and the screen printing process (compared to everyone else in the lab). And that I must be ok with that. Secondly, I knew I needed to familiarize myself with the research and understand, in depth, what electrochemistry and screen printing was.  Thirdly, to not overwhelm myself with my project goals, I needed to plan mini goals within my project to help me answer my overall project question.

So this week, I set out with the mindset to accomplish those three tasks to be able to learn more vigorously in the lab. My first two mini goals were quite easy to accomplish. It didn't take long for me to admit my lack of knowledge in the field. And it also didn't take me long to discover what I needed to do to get rid of this lack of knowledge. My solution: my on-site mentor Dr. LaBelle and the library.

After emailing my concerns to Dr. LaBelle, he and I sat down in his office as he went through an electrochemistry 101 power point slide with me. At the end of the power point slide he then recommended which text book to check out and gave me a little homework. Yes, homework. Even during the Senior Research Project, one can't evade homework. I was to run a cyclic voltammogram (CV) and Ampomettric i*t (Amp i*t) on 3 solutions. He also gave me great advice to head by for the rest of my internship with him, "the best way to learn is to read a little and then go do it!" And so I went straight to the Noble Science and Engineering Library and got Electrochemistry by Carl Hamann, Andrew Hamnett, and Wolf Vielstich to start introducing myself to the world of electrochemistry.


DAY 2

Day 2 was definitely less stressful than the first. I had a set plan for that day to learn the basics of screen printing electrodes with one of Dr. LaBelle's students. Overall, I came to a very important conclusion: screen printing was exactly like baking. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a bit of a baking fanatic. So the comparison between screen printing electrodes and baking helped me understand the process more. With each layer I had to put on, I had to bake it for an hour, with a total of 4 parts.

Although I want to go into more detail of the screen printing process, I'll leave that for a different blog to give the process the spot light it deserves. This is because it requires more of an explanation than the general comparison I gave to you about baking.

After the 101 lab on screening printing electrodes, I headed to the library, of course, to read my text book. As well as figure out how I'm going to complete the homework Dr. LaBelle gave me for next week.

DAY 3

I worked a total of 3 days this week to complete my required 15 hours for my senior research project. Although I left off the previous day at the library, I started off this day at the library. Soon after I met with Dr. LaBelle again, where he spontaneously asked me if I wanted to learn about electroplating cooper and gold. Confused, I just nodded my head because it sounded cool. I found out, through Wikipedia of course, that electroplating is a process where metal cations are dissolved by electric current so that they form a metal coating around an electrode. I know this may sound intimidating, but I realized it actually fits into my project on screen printing. Because I'm screen printing electrodes!  

An then everything finally made sense to me about why I'm doing a senior research project.It is about embracing the things you have no knowledge on, learning a little about it, and re-doing that process over and over again.

OVERVIEW


I know I started off skeptical in the beginning of the week, but at the end of the week I grew more and more excited to see what a new day would bring at Dr. LaBelle's lab. I'm already so thankful that he took me into his lab, and has me working with extremely intelligent, and wonderful individuals.

I promise I'll upload the screen printing process in another post-- I have lots of pictures I took of it. As well as fill you in on how electroplating is going. Until next time guys.


- Tina Smith










 

Senior Research Proposal

 

Senior Project Proposal

Christina Smith

9/26/2014

 

 

1. Title of Project:

Seeing Through New Eyes

 

2. Statement of Purpose:

Millions of people each year contract eye infections such as eye conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink-eye, or dry eyes. And with each given year, more medical devices are created to detect these infections. For my research project, I will delve into the world of biomedical engineering focusing on such optometric devices. I hope to answer the following questions: What are the biomarkers of eye infections? How do I screen print electrodes? How can screen printing electrodes help in the process of creating an optometric device?

 

3. Background:

            People who truly know me understand that I have an aversion to things coming near my eyes. I can attest that I probably have one of the strongest reflexes when it comes to my eyes. Whether it be shampoo, dust, eyelashes, water, or eye drops, nothing can come close to them; and I try my hardest to get those foreign anomalies out. I believe this became my inspiration for my research project: to overcome my aversion and work with the eye.

            Along with this inspiration, I also have an interest in biomedical engineering. I plan to major in this field when I go off to college next year. So, I wanted to experience what research would be like in this field. And when I heard of a project that works both with engineering and optometry, I believed it would be a perfect opportunity to research with an interdisciplinary approach. I believe biomedical engineering is at the forefront for creating medical devices. Researching electrodes, the screen printing process, and eye infections will connect all my interests together in one project to see this: from a first-handed experience in a biomedical engineering lab and from interviewing optometrists about eye infections.

            Within my research in the biomedical lab, I will be learning how to screen print electrodes for screening eye infections. From this, I believe I will learn how electrodes can be used for future medical devices. As well as create new solutions for detecting certain chemicals in a less painful way than drawing blood. In 2012, I interned with my current on-site mentor Dr. LaBelle in his lab at ASU. However, I worked with 3D printing RFDI tags to monitor blood chemical levels. I wanted to continue the path of research with electrochemistry while adding a more mechanical engineering approach by learning how to screen print electrodes.  

 

4. Prior Research:

            The same lab I’m interning at produced the Tear TOUCH Glucose Sensing project. In this project, the lab created a device that can detect glucose levels from a person’s tears. The researchers wanted to find a way to detect glucose levels that is more practical and less painful than pricking a finger (Ira A. Fulton, 2012 and Integrated Device, 2014). This project fueled the research on the project I was assigned. My project will be using the same process of screen printing electrodes to detect biomarkers from the eye to see if the infection is viral or bacterial.

            Individuals have also researched Pine Screen Printed Electrodes for blood glucose detectors as well. In this research, they described that a certain electrode- a screen printed carbon electrode- has less pristine makeup than glass electrodes, thus “making an exact determination of electrode area difficult.”(Working with Pine). Although this doesn’t pertain to detecting eye infections. This research gives results as to how electrodes work, and creating another possible question to determine what materials to screen print electrodes for my research project.

            The most common eye infection today is known as conjunctivitis, or pink-eye (Pinkeye). But there are other eye infections and disease one should think about. For example Uveitis, or the inflammation of uvea, composed of the iris, choroid body, and ciliary body. Uveitis causes eye pain, sensitivity to light, blurred vision and spots in the field of vision. Although it can be treated if it is left unattended it could cause a serious and more caustic eye problem such as permanent vision loss, glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal detachment (Eye Infections-Causes, 2014 and Eye Infections, 2014).

           

5. Significance:

By combining optometry and biomedical engineering, I hope to gain knowledge on how interdisciplinary research opportunities can be. My research could help individuals in the public understand eye infections on a deeper level, as well as understand the devices doctors may use in the future to diagnose their eye infections. I know many individuals can be skeptical of new technology arising, but if the public understands how these devices work, how they are made, and how they are applied they may be less frightened and more welcoming of these medical devices. And if they welcome new technology, the eye infections and diseases the public have could be treated earlier. And if those illnesses are treated earlier, there will be less damage to the eyes instead of becoming harmful if left alone untreated.

At the end of my 10 week onsite internship at ASU’s Fulton Biomedical Lab, I plan to continuing researching electrodes and the sensor project during the summer. And If I continue this research in college, hopefully it will be published in a scientific journal. Aside from the future though, I will publish my findings in a blog post to track these experiences, as well as help bring awareness to the public about eye health and protocols. 

 

6. Description:

            By the end of my senior research project, my project will yield an understanding between medical problems issued by doctors and biomedical engineers who create devices for those doctors to use. I will be able to screen print electrodes and understand the mechanisms behind them as well. Additionally I will understand the different methods of diagnosing eye infections and possibly the biomarkers of them. To accomplish said task, I will be conducting library research on how electrodes work and the various properties within them. By contacting multiple local optometrists, hopefully an interview can be arranged with at least one local optometrist to understand how they diagnose eye infections. I will make observations in the lab on how electrodes are made. And finally, I will conduct my own experiments in screen printing electrodes by myself.

             

 

7. Methodology:

            During my research I will have three main methods; library research, experiments, and interviews. At ASU’s Science library I will research eye infections as well as potential biomarkers for them. In addition to this, I will also research the dynamics and mechanisms of electrodes. From this I hope to have a deeper understanding on how electrochemistry works before I start my work on screen printing electrodes.  My second method is the experiments done in the Dr. LaBelle’s biomedical engineering lab at ASU I’m interning in. This includes the actual screen printing process and testing them to be used in other parts of the project. And lastly I will create a questionnaire for optometrists in my local area to discuss common eye infections and medical devices used in their practice. Among these question, I will ask doctors about issues in their field concerning diagnosing eye infections and diseases. From these three methods, my project will yield an understanding that research is a collaboration of multiple disciplinarians. In addition to how different engineering fields combine together to complete a project.   

 

 

8. Problems:  

There are multiple problems I expect to encounter in my research. Number one is the library research. There may not be substantial prior research on biomarkers of eye infections, so I may need to find a different way to answer my questions. Secondly, in terms of lab experiments, there could be issues of sterilization when testing and creating electrodes. In addition to this, the accuracy of screen printing electrodes vary from the materials used. And lastly, optometrists might not respond to my requests to interview or complete a questionnaire.

 

9. Bibliography:

 

·         "Eye Infections- Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Diagnosis.” MediResource, Inc. MediResource, Inc. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.  

·         "Eye Infections." Johns Hopkins Medicine. Johns Hopkins University. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

·         "Researchers Pinpoint Most Common Causes of Dangerous Eye Infection Post Surgery and Trauma." Highlights: Researchers Pinpoint Most Common Causes of Dangerous Eye Infection P. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. Web. 9 Dec. 2014

·         "Pinkeye (Conjunctivitis) Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

·         “Properties of screen printed electrocardiography smart ware electrodes investigated in an electro-chemical cell.” Biomedical Engineering Online. Biomedical Engineering Online, 5 Jul 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2014.

·         "Integrated Device for Surface-contact Sampling Extraction and Electrochemical Measurements." Technology -. Arizona Technology Enterprise. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

·         "Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering." LaBelle Lab — Tear TOUCH Glucose Sensing. LaBelle Lab. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

·         "Electrode." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

·         "Standard Electrodes." Chemwiki. Ucdavis.edu. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

·         Yeung, Karen. "Bacterial Conjunctivitis Treatment & Management." Bacterial Conjunctivitis Treatment & Management. Medscape.com. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

·         “Working with Pine Screen Printed Electrodes.” Pine Research Instrumentation. Pine Research Instrumentation, Jul 2007. Web. 6 Dec 2014.

Introduction: A Little Bit About Me

Hello, guys! My name is Tina Smith and I’m a current high school senior at BASIS Scottsdale. BASIS Scottsdale differs from many high schools in terms of its academics and standards; but one significant difference with my school and other schools is senior year. Instead of going to classes the last trimester of the year, like normal high schools have its students do, seniors at BASIS Scottsdale have the ability to participate in a project to receive high honors. This project is called the “Senior Research Project” or SRP. In this project, students select a project to work on for 10 weeks and then create a presentation to show their findings.

Medical devices are one aspect of the medical field that I find fascinating. To me, they are giant mystery books; the various plot twists and turns leave the reader, myself, wanting more and more. The further I read, the more I learn, and stronger the pull to know the mechanisms behind the device. I want to know how it came about, how it is made, and how it works. In today's world, science and technology are rapidly growing. New techniques, new procedures, and new research fill the void of knowledge left from previous mysteries. Science and technology now work together to create new devices for doctors to use in medical practice. And for me, that is the reason why I choose to work in the biomedical engineering field for my Senior Research Project.

I chose a project that will incorporate many components of engineering, electrochemistry, and optometry-- a field of medicine. I will delve into the world of biomedical engineering focusing on optometric devices. At Dr. LaBelle’s biomedical engineering lab at ASU, I will be learning to screen print electrodes; in addition to, self-researching about optometry. Why you may ask? From prior research, I discovered millions of people each year contract eye infections such as eye conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink-eye, or dry eyes. And with each given year, more medical devices are created to detect these infections. And I want to know how this process occurs. How can two different fields of study—engineering and optometry- combine together to create a product. So, I hope to answer the following questions in my research: What are the detectors of an eye infection? How do I screen print electrodes? And how can screen printing electrodes help in the process of creating an optometric device? 

If you want to read more about my proposal, my next post will contain my full Senior Research Proposal. Hope you guys have an awesome day!