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Existing blood analysis instruments and methods are not optimized for handling small sample sizes (i.e. microliters) of blood, which are commonly obtained from sources such as umbilical cords and neonatal rats in pediatric research labs. Our client would like to isolate the fraction of blood that is rich in a specific cell type known as reticulocytes in order to research a drug that aims to increase the iron content in cells. Due to the limitations of existing techniques, however, the process of removing these cells from a blood sample is challenging and time-consuming. Our design group has researched several methods and developed designs that would augment existing blood analysis methods to help facilitate reticulocyte isolation. Upon evaluating our designs, we decided on an enrichment method, which serves to increase the percentage of reticulocytes within a sample. A scale providing an extraction guideline was developed to aid in the method, and testing showed that the method successfully increased the proportion of the reticulocytes in the sample. Future work includes more extensive testing so that the scale may be refined, and could possibly include the use of software to obtain a more objective cell count.
Team Picture: (From left to right)
Christopher, Sarajane, Pam, Anita, and Katy.
A lot of our parts required the use of an end-mill, especially the window portion. Each window was milled out seperately.
This is just an auxillary view of our second design. This design is much shorter and a lot longer than our previous design. It measures 12" wide, 5" tall, and 6" deep.
Above is a computer-generated 3D-render of Prototype II. As you can see the scale is in back of the windows and slides back and forth.
This here is an auxillary view of our final design without the scale showing.
By looking at the computer screen, the team can count reticulocytes much easier than peering through the oculars on a microscope.
A field (a small location on a slide/blood smear) that has three reticulocytes (circled in bright blue for clarity).
After counting reticulocytes from two blood samples, we saw that in both cases, the enrichment method doubled the concentration of reticulocytes in the sample. It can’t be said for certain until further testing is done, but so far our method looks successful! In general, more tests have to be done to assure oursevles that this is not a fluke and that our method really does what we say it does.
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 21 | Formed team, chose project, and met with the client to discuss the objectives for the semester. |
| 2 | January 28 | Split up different parts of the PDR. Narrowed down our paths that our team could take in order to reach our end product. |
| 3 | February 4 | Advanced our knowledge of how well the hematocrit tube idea will work. Completed all of our safety tests for blood and human subject research. |
| 4 | February 11 | Created and practiced mid-semester presentation. |
| 5 | February 18 | Split up the Project Design Report into sections and each member wrote their section. We then met as a group to compile all the parts. |
| 6 | February 25 | Our "first" final design was established, parts were ordered, and prototype manufacturing went underway! |
| 7 | March 4 | Obtained materials and built our first prototype! |
| 8 | March 11 | Presented our first prototype to client. Client made some changes. |
| 9 | March 18 | Worked on design and started construction on second prototype. |
| 10 | March 25 | Finished construction on second prototype. |
| 11 | April 1 | Presented the second prototype to client. Client liked it so the team started to run some tests. |
| 12 | April 8 | Continued to run test on the second prototype. This involved team members counting reticulocytes on a smeared blood sample. |
| 13 | April 22 | Prepared the poster for the final oral presentation. |
| 14 | April 29 | Prepared final report, PDS, and design drawings to be handed into the client and advisor. |
| 15 | May 6 | Final meeting with advisor. |
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Mid-Semester Presentation (Feb 18 2005, 2813 kb) |
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Preliminary Design Report (with PDS) (Feb 25 2005, 210 kb) |
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Final Product Design Specification (May 4 2005, 120 kb) |
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Final Presentation (May 4 2005, 1820 kb) |
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Final Design Report (with PDS) (May 5 2005, 417 kb) |
