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Development of a noninvasive device for the quantitative characterization of skin in situ
- Program: Biomedical Engineering
- Course: EN.580.497 Advanced Design Team
- Year: 2025
Project Description:
Characterizing soft tissue mechanics is of interest across biomedical disciplines, including in regenerative medicine and prosthetics development. In the context of skin cancer, there is a well-elucidated relationship with tissue stiffness; however, mechanical properties of skin are not factored into skin cancer screening and diagnostics because of a lack of established benchmark values for skin stiffness. Existing technologies for soft tissue mechanical characterization are ill-suited for assessing the elastic modulus of potential skin cancers—they are ex vivo, do not provide the resolution needed for skin lesions, and/or are not sufficiently maneuverable for in situ use. Here is reported a proof-of-concept for a novel device for the measurement of skin mechanics in situ, which is handheld, portable, and operates on the scale of skin lesions. Testing on polymers shows the device is able to reliably differentiate between materials that have elastic moduli in the range of human epidermal/dermal tissue.
Project Photo:
Mela-Know-More is a team of undergraduate biomedical engineers working towards measuring the elastic modulus of melanoma lesions. In the long term, they hope their findings will further our understanding of tissue mechanics in melanoma progression—ultimately paving the way for quantitative metrics that can be used to assess skin lesions.
Student Team Members
- Sabahat Rahman
- Stephanie Anyanwu
- Ethan Chang
- Ella Holtermann
- Sharanya Parvathaneni
- Smriti Srikanth
- Tina Tian
- Brendon Young