When Berkeley undergraduates engage in immersive research experiences, it can be one of the most transformative and fruitful adventures of their college career. Yet, many new students are deterred from even getting started. This problem stems from a tendency for programs to favor already experienced students and difficulty for new students in navigating a complex myriad of Berkeley resources. ULAB is a student-run research laboratory to help freshman and sophomores from all backgrounds and skill levels get started in research. ULAB members tour research labs to engage with the research community, they complete mini research projects to develop skills that align with their interests, and they work with junior and senior mentors to build professional networks by learning from those who succeeded before them. We are emphasizing new ways to reach underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged students by partnering with the residence halls and existing organizations.
InPrint is a lightweight, thin-film metal temporary tattoo that tracks tremors and drug usage for Parkinson’s patients. Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and it can take up to six months for patients to find an effective drug regimen. Neurologists often change a patient’s treatment plan every two to three years due to the disease’s progression and have no way of accurately monitoring their symptoms during these transition periods. Applied onto the skin like a sticker, InPrint offers an accessible, low-cost method of detecting tremors while recording their duration and severity. By using the connected InPrint mobile app, patients can set medication reminders and input their drug intake while neurologists can evaluate patient symptoms to create a personalized medication schedule. Not only does InPrint make it easier to precisely monitor tremors, it can also shorten the six-month period typically needed to create a stable drug regimen.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) disorders often go misdiagnosed or undiagnosed by physicians, especially in pediatric patients with less progressed pathologies. Delayed diagnosis exacerbates physiological and psychobehavioral symptoms associated with this class of diseases. AxoLog is a wearable screening tool catered to pediatric patients to allow for non-invasive and child-friendly diagnosis. The device employs electrodermal responses to quantitatively measure the nervous system response to a controlled clinical stimulus. With this device, we hope to reduce misdiagnosis in the short-term and lead to a reduction in physical and social implications for patients in the long term. Our device will create an impact in the clinical space by improving the diagnostic and treatment pathway for ANS disorders.
Laparoscopy is a form of surgery done through a series of small incisions that is becoming the standard for many procedures. Graspers are important tools used in laparoscopy, which allow surgeons to grip and manipulate tissue. Current graspers use a compressive head made of metal jaws with teeth that grip tissue. These graspers have a risk of injury, including perforating, tearing, or crushing delicate tissues. Complications from this form of tissue injury lead to negative health outcomes for patients and increased costs for hospitals. Our proposed solution is Lamprey, which helps surgeons perform laparoscopic surgery without tissue damage by facilitating atraumatic tissue manipulation. Lamprey uses vacuum power to grip tissue and thus spreads applied force over a greater area, resulting in lower pressure. This makes Lamprey safer than conventional graspers while still providing a strong grip on tissue.
In 2015, pneumonia was the leading cause of death in patients under the age of 5, claiming almost one million children worldwide. It has been reported by UNICEF that there is a need for access to a more affordable diagnostic method to reduce the number of deaths in populations with limited access to medical infrastructure. Tabla seeks to meet this need by providing an inexpensive method of diagnosing pneumonia. The device sends sound waves into the body using a surface exciter, records acoustic backscatter with a digital stethoscope, and analyzes the received signal in order to assess the presence of pneumonia. Tabla provides an order of magnitude improvement on portability, accessibility and cost over the current gold standard of chest x-ray, targeting patients in areas with limited access to advanced medical care. The device has IRB approval at UCSF and is currently being tested with adult and pediatric patients.
The HopeAssist project aims to develop a smartphone based decision support system using the WHO Mental Health Guidelines (mhGAP), that will facilitate General Physicians working in low resource settings, in making better diagnosis and treatment choices for depression patients. The system also includes a Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service that will allow patients to complete preliminary screening questionnaire on the phone at no cost. The pilot project is proposed for rolled out to 10 Physicians in Peshawar (Pakistan), to be tested over a period of 12 months. Based on conservative estimates, 5,500 patients suffering from depression will directly benefit from this pilot project in 08 months of service in this pilot project.
Medicinal oxygen increases life expectancy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the 4th leading cause of death globally. Blood oxygen saturation monitoring is the gold standard for treatment of respiratory illnesses, without knowing oxygen levels, providers cannot treat patients cost effectively. KNO2, a low-cost wrist device that monitors oxygen accurately, would replace today’s cumbersome and costly monitors. KNO2 encourages patients to monitor symptoms by continuously recording them, allowing doctors to quantitatively evaluate disease progression and allowing patients to better understand disease triggers with the device’s flag-buzzing system, reducing emergency room visits. In Latin America, most governments cover COPD patients with public insurance. The team plans to partner with the public sector to include KNO2 in COPD health packages. They will perform preliminary testing in Colombia, followed by secondary testing in Perú. This project will allow 80 million people to reduce preventable morbidity and mortality, all for $25 per unit.
Sepsis is a life-threatening complication caused by an overwhelming immune response to bloodstream infections. However, by recognizing certain vital sign indicators, one can take early action to significantly reduce sepsis-associated mortality. In fact, early sepsis therapy programs using simple, cost-effective treatments have reduced relative risk of sepsis mortality by 45%. Unfortunately, many low resource hospitals are overworked and understaffed, and need more assistance with monitoring at-risk patients. The lack of functional vital signs monitoring equipment further compounds this insufficiency. Consequently, sepsis remains an enormous problem for low resource settings. To address this issue, Team Vitalize is developing a low-cost, wireless vital signs monitoring device that can detect early onset of sepsis and alert the appropriate healthcare provider. This diagnostic tool has the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives and significantly improve quality of care in resource-limited hospitals.
Planet Murple inspires kids to explore natural food through creative cooking and playful media. We help kids and their families build happy relationships to healthy food! Our world is based on a fantastical planet made entirely of natural food and follows the adventures of the Murples. Kids interact with the Murples through Storytime Recipes via streaming videos and books. These recipes are designed for kids 4-8 to make with their guardians as an afterschool or weekend activity, and are always made with natural food. We are also building a line of Murple-branded children culinary products that make it both easy and irresistibly fun to bring kids into the kitchen. With Planet Murple, we make learning to cook real food an experience to look forward to!
