Final Blog - Emily

Hi everyone!

It's hard to believe just 10 weeks ago we were all sitting in the conference room at Purdue getting (for some of us) our first taste of what Fluid Power is. I feel I have grown both personally and professionally over the last 10 weeks and I am very grateful to have had this opportunity.

The goal of my research this summer was to help my mentor develop the hardware for a non-invasive skull base approach to radiofrequency ablation of the hippocampus as a therapy for epilepsy. My mentor has created a robot that advances a thin needl
e in a inchworm manner through a docking tube that guides the needle through the foramen ovale, a naturally hole in the skull near the cheek. The needle will advance towards the hippocampus and when it is in place, radiofrequency ablation will be used to "cook" or destroy the majority of the tissue comprising the hippocampus in an effort to treat epilepsy. Pneumatics is a great source of power for this system because it can be designed to contain primarily non-magnetic parts. This allows the whole procedure to be monitored in real time within an MRI scanner which is favorable over CT or ultrasound.

I have two primary contributions to this work. At the start of the summer, I experimented with radiofrequency ablation to discover what parameters will "cook" the largest amount of tissue. Many variables need to be taken into consideration such as diameter of the ablator, power, and time. The second half of the summer, I worked with CT and MRI scans to segment the skull, foramen ovale, hippocamups, and amygdala. This will be helpful to the future of the project because the figures can be used in computer simulations to model the procedure and help fine tune the needle design.

I have learned a lot of things this summer outside the technical components of my research. I have learned to stay disciplined and self motivated. I have learned to ask questions and not be afraid to ask for help. I have learned how even though everyone is working on separate projects, everyone is eager to contribute their own expertise when necessary. I have learned to be patient and realize many things take days, weeks, or months to accomplish. It was very exciting this summer to experience the research environment here at Vanderbilt.

I would like to thank Dr. Barth and Dave for being excellent mentors this summer. I would like to thank my lab mates Anna, Bryn, and Alex for welcoming me to the lab. I would like to thank Alyssa for being so fantastic at keeping us all connected this summer and helping organize such an amazing program. Finally, I would like to thank all my fellow REUs for sharing their experiences over the blog and allowing me to learn even more the wide range of applications of Fluid Power.