{"id":4409,"date":"2022-02-23T11:06:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T18:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/undergraduate-research\/?page_id=4409"},"modified":"2024-08-26T15:43:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T22:43:14","slug":"patient-care","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/student-research-stories\/patient-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Josette Vigil – Engineering the future of patient care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Engineering the future of patient care<\/h1>\n

\"Josette<\/h1>\n

Josette Vigil, an NAU Mechanical Engineering major, applies bioengineering to advance medical device science.<\/h2>\n

Vigil, a\u00a0Mechanical Engineering<\/a>\u00a0major in her junior year at NAU,\u00a0advances medical device\u00a0science and improves the outlook for stroke patients in Associate Professor\u00a0Tim Becker\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Bioengineering Devices Lab<\/a>\u00a0(BDL). While she shares her work with the medical community in real time, Vigil is also taking\u00a0it to\u00a0the NAU and Flagstaff communities at NAU\u2019s upcoming Undergraduate Symposium.<\/p>\n

Bioengineering applies engineering principles and technologies to the fields of medicine and biology in order to improve patient care. This definition lives strongly within Becker\u2019s on-campus lab. \u201cThe main emphasis of the lab is stroke research. We\u2019re working on new ways of treating different types of stroke that occur in patients from as young as in their teens all the way up until old age,\u201d Becker says.<\/p>\n

Vigil, an undergraduate researcher in the lab and recipient of the\u00a0Urdea Undergraduate Research Award<\/a>, is advancing several projects targeting stroke treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work is focused on two main areas. One is material testing and characterization of various 3D printed polymers, even tissues\u2014we\u2019re trying to develop a benchtop vessel model that best emulates human vasculature. The other main aspect of what I do is algorithm development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vigil explains that the lab has \u201cproduced a device that fills an aneurysm so that blood flow no longer gets in, and it doesn\u2019t burst. Essentially, you inject the device into the aneurysm, it hardens, and blood can\u2019t get in anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vigil\u2019s algorithm development has a direct impact on patient care. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m working on a code that takes in a set of computerized tomography (CT) images. Using those images, the code can define the volume and the dimensions of an\u00a0aneurysm,\u201d she says.\u00a0Knowing the volume of the aneurysm leads to more effective treatment; with it, medical providers can inject the correct amount of liquid into the aneurysm and prevent bursting. More concise diagnostic tools like these can lead to an improved outlook for stroke recovery.<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n I would say the most surprising part about being in research is that you\u2019re learning so much without\u00a0realizing\u00a0that you\u2019re learning so much while you\u2019re doing it.<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Vigil presented a poster on the initial results of her diagnostic algorithm at the international conference of the Society for Neurointerventional Surgery (SNIS) in July 2021. On April 22, 2022, she will present on the next stages of the two separate projects\u2014a working benchtop blood vessel model and a poster on her coding and algorithm development\u2014at NAU\u2019s annual\u00a0Undergraduate Symposium<\/a>. The presentations will be the latest product of Vigil\u2019s meaningful experience in undergraduate research\u2014a journey that began with a simple detour from\u00a0classroom to lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually had [Becker] as a professor. I remember going into the lab and thinking, \u2018This is very different than what I was expecting.\u2019 Your professors are just so cut and dry when you\u2019re in classes. It was really cool to get to know a different side of my professors that was not just the little square during class on the online screen. That was definitely exciting,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Gaining lab skills<\/h3>\n

From that first day, Vigil\u2019s skills in the lab improved exponentially. \u201cI remember coming into the lab, and everything was so complicated and so overwhelming. Now an undergrad coworker and I are\u00a0at a point where we know how almost every piece of equipment in the lab operates. When other people come in, we\u2019re the ones explaining it to them, helping show them how to do things, or explaining the science to them. Versus when we started, it was, \u2018I\u2019m never going to understand this science. It is so beyond me. It is so beyond my understanding of what I can learn.\u2019 I would say the most surprising part about being in research is that you\u2019re learning so much without\u00a0realizing<\/em> that you\u2019re learning so much while you\u2019re doing it,\u201d Vigil says.<\/p>\n

\"Josette
Josette Vigil, Mechanical Engineering major, and Dr. Tim Becker, Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Mechanical Engineering<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The extension of classroom-to-lab learning was important to Vigil. \u201cIt\u2019s allowed me to apply a lot of the things that I\u2019d learned in the engineering program to something I was more interested in. Being able to see an application of knowledge from my degree was really exciting to me. It was what made me stay in the lab,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Becker echoed\u00a0the importance of student involvement in research. \u201cThe most beneficial part from my perspective is to give the students that real-world experience. We try to make it applicable, what you\u2019re learning in class to what you might do in the real world, but there\u2019s so many different things that you can do as an engineer. There are so many different opportunities, it\u2019s hard to give students that hands-on experience in the classroom,\u201d he\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

This real-world research experience for students extends beyond future career opportunities, and closely parallels\u00a0the cutting-edge development of their models, algorithms, and other lifesaving work.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosette\u2019s project is a good example because she\u2019s actually using real scans, from patients that we get from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. She\u2019s analyzing them to understand the size of their aneurysm, and what device might be the best fit for treating that aneurysm. NAU may not have a medical school, but we work directly with residents and neurosurgical fellows at Barrow,\u201d Becker notes.\u00a0Real-world application in the lab shows researchers like Vigil what they can achieve.<\/p>\n

The lab\u2019s researchers get additional opportunities for direct contact with medical providers and regulators through regular dialogue with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and face-to-face conference discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a conference where I try to take all my students, even my undergrads. Josette has been there as well. At the conference,\u00a0all the neurosurgeons come together and say, \u2018This is the patient I worked with\u00a0three months ago. And this is what I tried, and it worked great.\u2019 And another one says, \u2018This is what I tried, and it did not work.\u2019 We get all these great ideas as engineers and say, \u2018I think we can make that better.\u2019 We can also talk directly to that neurosurgeon and say, \u2018We were thinking about this kind of system. Do you want to work with us and see if we can come up with a better way to treat this?\u2019\u201d Becker says.<\/p>\n

Vigil has gained valuable experience from these projects, combining her engineering degree\u2014from coding to machinery\u2014with human impact. \u201cIf someone took a CT of my brain, they could make a model based off it. It\u2019s not cheap, but it can be done, which I think is incredible because it just takes a few grams of plastic to create. It\u2019s not gold. It\u2019s not a precious metal that we\u2019re using. But it is so valuable in this sphere of treatment and patient care.\u201d Ultimately, Vigil\u2019s research translates to the development of bright futures: her own, and that of the stroke patients whose care she\u2019s helped to improve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineering the future of patient care Josette Vigil, an NAU Mechanical Engineering major, applies bioengineering to advance medical device science. Vigil, a\u00a0Mechanical Engineering\u00a0major in her junior year at NAU,\u00a0advances medical device\u00a0science and improves the outlook for stroke patients in Associate Professor\u00a0Tim Becker\u2019s\u00a0Bioengineering Devices Lab\u00a0(BDL). While she shares her work with the medical community in real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4409","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4414,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4409\/revisions\/4414"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}