This project was done for a class called NUvention. In it, students from the Law, Business, Medical, and Engineering schools team up to start a business based on a medical device. My team founded the company Neuvel. (logo designed by me)
It was a very open ended assignment in which we needed to come up with ideas for a new product, and first we need to simply find a need. Needs finding and research was a multifaceted process. We watched brain surgeries, interviewed doctors, and practiced procedures on dummies. The final need came from something a medical student had observed independently: lumbar punctures. After exploring a myriad of ways lumbar punctures could be improved, we decided to enable doctors to use ultrasound while inserting the needle. We then assessed the market size and the patent landscape and judged it to be sufficient.
Lumbar punctures, also known as spinal taps, are a very common procedure used to diagnose various conditions. Essentially, the doctor is inserting a needle between two vertebra to extract a sample of cerebral spinal fluid. The process of finding the exact position and angle to puncture at is a difficult tactile technique learned by experience. Using an ultrasound at the same time allows the doctor to see what they are doing under the surface, but then it becomes a thee handed process. So we developed a system to hold the ultrasound wand against the patient’s back.
We wanted the device to be able to hold many brands and shapes of ultrasound probes in place on a person’s back. We also wanted the device to be disposable so minimizing parts and sizes were paramount. For such a device, a simple process is vital.
After many iterations of prototyping…
We arrived at this final form: 
The final design fixes an ultrasound probe to the body using a belt, and can move in three degrees of freedom after that. The probe becomes one leg of a tripod and is held inside the large ball and socket mechanism head. The whole ball and socket opens up for assembly, and then is inserted into the legs and strapped to the patient. There is a silicone material in the ball that captures any shape of probe. The whole device allows the doctor to carefully place the wand in the perfect spot and then simply let go.
To top it all off, Neuvel was invited to the Rice Business Plan Competition. Though we didn’t win any major investments, I came away from it with a new respect for and love of entrepreneurship.