Researchers at Rice recently received the Young Professional Best Paper Award (2nd place) at the 46th Annual International Conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC2024).
Kaiyuan Yang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), along with ECE Ph.D. student Yonghee Chang and Naveed Ahmed, visiting scholar in the ENGMED summer research experience program, co-authored and presented the paper at EMBC2024.
In their paper titled, “Easily-Accessible Human Skin-Fat-Muscle Phantoms for Dependable In-Vitro Testing of Biomedical Devices,” they propose a novel framework for designing and fabricating human phantoms that mimic the electrical properties of human skin, fat, and muscle for ex vivo testing of bioelectronic implants.
The multi-layer human phantom is designed to match a frequency range from 100 kHz to more than 50 MHz. “This frequency range covers the essential [industrial, scientific, and medical] (ISM) bands widely used for power transfer and communication to implants and wearables,” said Yang. “Our solution is the first reported phantom to cover this frequency range. What’s better? It can be made with simple and easily accessible ingredients and protocols.”
“I believe our human phantom has the potential to revolutionize the research and development of bioelectronic implants and wearables,” said Chang. “This work provides all researchers with accurate and accessible tools to test and validate biomedical electronics before animal studies. Additionally, the use of these models may reduce the number of animal testing trials in early-stage technology developments, thereby promoting more ethical research practices.”
More than 400 accepted papers were eligible for the award at the EMBC2024, which is IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society’s annual flagship conference. Yang, Chang and Ahmed received the award at the conference on July 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla.