{"id":18600,"date":"2023-05-31T10:55:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T14:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=18600"},"modified":"2023-06-13T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T14:29:26","slug":"a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
Top row (from left to right): Jonathan Wu, Daniel Lewis, Eric McAlexander, Alice Yu.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bottom row (from left to right): Mariah Snelson, Selena Shirkin, Ayeeshi Poosarla, Gloria Kalnitskaya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every year, 120,000 babies are born in the United States with birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is that emergency in-utero surgery can repair severe congenital disorders before a baby is born.<\/p>\n

But such surgery\u2014a minimally invasive, ultrasound-guided procedure involving accessing the uterus via a port inserted through the mother\u2019s abdomen\u2014carries risks, including that of membrane rupture, which occurs in 30% to 40% of all patients.<\/p>\n

The high rate of such surgical complications motivated biomedical engineering third-year student Selena Shirkin to tackle this real-world health care challenge. She already had some experience in the medical technologies industry: Her earlier work on Stetpulse, a tool to sterilize stethoscopes during clinical practice, received funding from VentureWell, a higher education network. So in the spring of her sophomore year, she began leading a team to design a better solution for fetal therapy.<\/p>\n

Shirkin and her team quickly zeroed in on preventing membrane rupture. \u201cThis is when the amniotic fluid leaks out into the space between the uterine wall and the amniotic membrane,\u201d she says. \u201cThat causes the membrane to strip off, like wallpaper peeling off a wall. And that causes the mother\u2019s water to break, leading to preterm labor.\u201d Since most surgical interventions take place before 25 weeks of gestation, membrane rupture can have serious consequences, including the death of the prematurely born baby.<\/p>\n

During their research phase, Shirkin and her team learned that the main cause of membrane rupture is the use of devices not specifically intended for fetal surgical therapy\u2014oversized
\nand often dull instruments that were designed for cardiovascular, laparoscopic, and other endoscopic surgeries.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to create a new access port system specifically for the uterine environment,\u201d says Shirkin. \u201cIt would be inserted into the mother\u2019s womb and function as a tunnel into the uterus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working in collaboration with Ahmet Baschat<\/a>, director of the Center for Fetal Therapy<\/a> and his team of maternal-fetal medicine specialists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine<\/a>, the student team developed a novel port system with two parts: a sharper introducer needle, also known as an obturator, that would pierce through layers of tissue, including the uterine wall, without causing membrane rupture; and a port sheath that would radially expand, allowing surgeons to insert varying sizes of instruments into the uterus. The device is currently in the prototype stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to push this project as far beyond the classroom as I can,\u201d says Shirkin. \u201cI think we can really make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, 120,000 babies are born in the United States with birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is that emergency in-utero surgery can repair severe congenital disorders before a baby is born. But such surgery\u2014a minimally invasive, ultrasound-guided procedure involving accessing the uterus via a port inserted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":18604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","issue-spring-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1065\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"headline\":\"A New Device for Fetal Therapy\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/\",\"name\":\"A New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\"},\"description\":\"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg\",\"width\":1065,\"height\":847,\"caption\":\"Top row (from left to right): Jonathan Wu, Daniel Lewis, Eric McAlexander, Alice Yu. Bottom row (from left to right): Mariah Snelson, Selena Shirkin, Ayeeshi Poosarla, Gloria Kalnitskaya\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A New Device for Fetal Therapy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815\",\"name\":\"Steve James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve James\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1065,"height":847,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve James","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve James","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"headline":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy","datePublished":"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/"},"wordCount":462,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","articleSection":["Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/","name":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-05-31T14:55:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-13T14:29:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815"},"description":"Read how biomedical engineering student Selena Shirkin and her team tackled the real-world health care challenge of membrane ruptures.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/DT13-Team-Photo.jpeg","width":1065,"height":847,"caption":"Top row (from left to right): Jonathan Wu, Daniel Lewis, Eric McAlexander, Alice Yu. Bottom row (from left to right): Mariah Snelson, Selena Shirkin, Ayeeshi Poosarla, Gloria Kalnitskaya"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/05\/a-new-device-for-fetal-therapy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A New Device for Fetal Therapy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/52c2b816c9aee29f66e4052a43ede815","name":"Steve James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/719143674fbd0dfe9b13b9bf44938cca11745b3f077168adf141570a4a752ecd?s=96&r=g","caption":"Steve James"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18600"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19583,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18600\/revisions\/19583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}